Jakarta: Anwar Ibrahim's return to the Malaysian parliament, via a thumping victory in the Port Dickson by-election on Saturday, is a hugely significant marker on his road to the prime ministership.

It comes just five months after the opposition Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) ended 61 years of one party rule in Malaysia back in May.

That victory, led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad -  who returned to the country's top political job at the age of 93 - shocked the world and marked the opening of a new and more uncertain phase in Malaysian democracy.

The extraordinary alliance between Mahathir and Anwar in 2018 - 20 years after a spectacular falling out between the then prime minister and his deputy that culminated in the younger man being jailed on trumped-up sodomy charges - was cemented by Mahathir promising to hand the prime ministership to Anwar.

Now, with Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Ismail already ensconced as deputy prime minister, and armed with a full post-election pardon from the King that has allowed him to re-enter politics after a second stint in jail on a second set of trumped-up sodomy charges, Anwar is back in parliament.