KUALA LUMPUR - ANWAR Ibrahim's tumultuous career has seen him rise to the peak of political power, only to be beaten and jailed, and then return to prominence as the leader of Malaysia's resurgent opposition.

Now he faces a daunting new challenge as allegations of sodomy - the same charge that he was convicted of a decade ago before being cleared - have resurfaced to jeopardise his campaign to seize power after landmark March elections.

The charismatic 60-year-old, whose birthday is on Sunday, has accused the government of concocting the allegations levelled by Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23, who was a volunteer at his office.

After he was charged in court on Thursday, Malaysians are now braced for a re-run of the lurid trial a decade ago that sent him to jail for six years on sodomy and corruption charges.

Mr Anwar rose to prominence as a radical Islamic student leader who was embraced by prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, the strongman of Malaysian politics who ruled for more than two decades until 2003.

He enjoyed a meteoric rise in the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which leads the multi-racial coalition that has dominated Malaysian politics since independence from Britain half a century ago.

After joining the party in 1982, he was elected chief of its influential youth wing two years later and then ascended to the post of vice-president, second only to his mentor Dr Mahathir.

He served in various portfolios, including sports, agriculture and education, before in 1991 becoming a celebrated finance minister and then deputy premier two years later.

Mr Anwar was acknowledged as heir apparent to the ageing Mahathir, but in 1998 as Asian economies were toppling amid the regional financial crisis, a power struggle bubbled over.

Dr Mahathir had become infuriated by Anwar's calls for reform, and an end to corruption and nepotism that had become entrenched in Malaysia during his long rule.

In quick succession, Mr Anwar was sacked, hit with the sodomy and corruption charges, and brought into court with a black eye after a beating from the police chief.

The stunning fall from grace, widely seen both in Malaysia and abroad as politically motivated, triggered massive protests in scenes never witnessed in a country where a tight lid is kept on dissent.

Mr Anwar was sent to jail and finally released in 2004 when the sodomy charge was overturned by the nation's highest court.

He emerged in poor health, spending several years recuperating and working as an academic.

By 2007, however, he was making skirmishes on to the political scene, campaigning for the Keadilan party formally headed by his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was thrust into the political limelight when he went to jail.

In March this year, against all predictions except his own, Mr Anwar led a three-party opposition alliance to astonishing victories in general elections, seizing five states and a third of parliamentary seats.

Several of the coalition parties were obliterated and Umno faced calls for sweeping reforms.

Politics is a family affair for Mr Anwar. His wife Wan Azizah, a petite, Irish-trained doctor, has been in parliament since 1999, in the Permatang Pauh electorate in Anwar's home state of Penang.

They have six children, five of them girls, and their 27-year-old daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar was elected to parliament in the landmark March elections. -- AFP