January 11, 2012, By James Hookway, WSJ

KUALA LUMPUR — Now that Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been acquitted of sodomy, what’s next for the aide who accused him, 26-year-old Saiful Bukhari Azlan?

So far it’s not clear. Mr. Saiful couldn’t be reached for comment. But he suggested on his blog Monday that Judge Zabadin Diah’s verdict might not be the end of the two-year drama that has riveted this country of 28 million people. “My family and I hope the prosecution will bring this case to the Appeals Court,” Mr. Saiful wrote.

Prosecutors have roughly two weeks to decide whether to appeal Mr. Anwar’s acquittal. So far they are not saying what they intend to do.

Mr. Saiful’s family, though, are adamant that Mr. Anwar really did sodomize the young man and that it wasn’t a political conspiracy to destroy a strengthening opposition movement, as Mr. Anwar says (and which the government denies).

There is enough uncertainty around the case to suggest that those Malaysians who already believe the opposition leader is guilty may not change their minds. Justice Zabidin ruled Monday that Mr. Saiful’s testimony was uncorroborated. He said the court was reluctant to convict Mr. Anwar based on Mr. Saiful’s word alone, and that the CSI-style DNA evidence presented by the prosecution was flawed and insufficient to support a conviction. Mr. Anwar’s previous sodomy conviction in 1999, which was overturned in 2004, was based on witness testimony.

In addition, three of Mr. Anwar’s political foes last year released a video tape of a man whom they say is Mr. Anwar having sex with a prostitute. Mr. Anwar and his family deny he is the man in the tape, but the lingering controversy suggests that Malaysia’s political dramas might continue for months yet. Mr. Saiful might not disappear from the public eye as easily as he might hope.

Mr. Saiful worked briefly for the Malaysian opposition’s election campaign in 2008. Volunteers such as Mr. Saiful helped make a crucial difference. The opposition won over a third of the seats in Malaysia’s Parliament, casting a chill over the ruling National Front coalition that has governed Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 and inspiring talk of a “political tsunami” in this closely controlled nation.

Then Mr. Saiful’s life took a radically different direction.

He visited Najib Razak, then deputy prime minister, and told him that Mr. Anwar had sodomized him at a Kuala Lumpur condominium complex. Mr. Najib said he told Mr. Saiful to do what he felt was right – and Mr. Saiful soon filed a police complaint against Mr. Anwar, setting in motion a dramatic chain of events in which he testified in court that, among other things, the 64-year-old opposition leader roughly sodomized him before treating him to coffee and curry pastries.

Mr. Saiful stayed away from commenting on the verdict.

Instead, he logged onto Twitter to say that he would “remain calm, continue praying and be patient.”

- Celine Fernandez in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this article.