Anwar: 'I'll be PM in three years' - AFP

Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's opposition leader, has said he will be prime minister within three years, sketching out a dramatic political comeback.

"I don't think we have established a definite, clear timeframe when I will take over [as prime minister] but it certainly wouldn't reach three years ... much earlier than that," he said.

"[But] I am not in a rush," he told AFP news agency.

Anwar has emerged as a serious threat to the ruling coalition after the opposition's strong showing in March parliamentary polls.

Once the heir-apparent to long-time former premier, Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar was sacked from his post of deputy prime minister in 1998 and jailed for six years.

He became free to run for office again last week, when a five-year ban stemming from his corruption conviction expired. He now says he has the support of enough defectors to topple the government.

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