Muntadar al-Zaidi, 28, was said to have no previous criminal record and has shown strong discipline during the 3-year imprisonment got after the December 14, 2008 outburst which gained the world's attention.
Most Iraqis and journalists all over hailed him as a hero. Soon after his arrest, thousands of people took to the streets of Baghdad and other cities to show support for him and demanded his release.
The former US President who was visiting Iraq towards the end of his tenure at the White House, got just 'the right' message from a young Iraqi who saw how his country was ruined and devastated when Bush sent his army to invade the country in 2003.
It was only more than a decade later the US realised its mistake for 'evading the wrong country' under its 'anti-terrorism' campaign - introduced after Sept 11 2001 - which saw Saddam Hussein and his senior aides got hanged, about 50,000 Iraqi includins women and children perished in US military offensive.
What Muntadar did was a surprise but it took someone like him to force such a leader to his knees for his blatant move and atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I remember covering the Palestinian 'intifidah' in south Lebanon in 1989 where about 300 foreign journalists, including those of the non-Muslim, joined them as a gesture towards peace and stability.
Here in Malaysia, I could sense the situation could lead to such a 'kurang ajar' episode if the government is not careful in its policy implementations. Former deputy premier Tun Musa Hitam (correct me if I am wrong) used to say that in order to correct and straighten things, we sometimes need to be 'kurang ajar'...