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Riding the wounded tiger

THE FEDERAL COURT'S CAREFULLY-CRAFTED 89-page judgement, which allowed Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against conviction and sentence for sodomy and freed him from prison, contained this throwaway line: "To summarise our judgment, even though reading the appeal record, we find evidence to confirm that the appellants were involvved in homosexual activities and we are more inclined to believe that the alleged incident at Tivoli Villa did happen." UMNO politicians, cabinet ministers, journalists, anti-Anwaristas and others seize upon it to insist that though acquitted, he is still guilty, unfit to return to politics. But they ignored the judges' reasoning and caution: "(However) the court may only convict the appellants if the prosecution had successfully proved the alleged offences as stated in the charges beyond reasonable doubt on admissible evidence and in accordance with established principles of law." Their cursory remarks – what the law would call 'obiter dicta' – has no bearing on the judgment but it raised the eternal conundrum: Is justice at the mercy of the political executive? The status quo insist behind the scenes it is, whilst in public affirm justice's inviolability.

But since the government insists he should not have been acquitted, and it believes the judges' obiter is correct, would it not fail in its duties if it did not instruct the attorney-general's chambers to charge him afresh for the same offence? After all, it wants the man politically dead. This is its golden chance. And it has support from the usual quarters. The former prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, is convinced the federal court in wrong, and he is guilty as charged. (This despite his twaddly belief that his successor, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, engineered the acquittal to make him irrelevent.) It was he who first accused him of corruption and sodomy, sacked him from UMNO, where he was deputy president, and the government, where he was deputy prime minister, had him charged and convicted in a political conspiracy that now slowly reveals itself. The attorney-general and chief justice of the day did his bidding to convict him by playing fast and loose with the law and its procedure. But all underestimated him. If any other member of the cabinet had been damned, he would have stayed damned. Instead, as we know now, all they did was to disturb a wounded tiger.

All are frightened of this. The newspapers went to town on his release for no altruistic reason than that he sells newspapers. For a few days, he was all over the media. Reporters camped outside his house so they could report on the goings on. Then as quickly he disappeared into the shadows where he had been since his arrest, conviction and imprisonment for corruption and sodomy. His release was seen as yet another example of the liberal government now that the hated Dr Mahathir is no more in office. The press, here and overseas, praised Pak Lah for his maganamity, his refusal to interfere with the judiciary, the superficial signs of an independent judiciary and media. But that is a mirage. The iron-first control remains, but the man with the iron fist is not strong enough to enforce it. All the means of control are in place. The press is firmly in his grip. His key men are all appointed to ensure it. He controls internal security. But he does not have the iron control his predecessor had. His ascension to office is flawed, and every attempt to right it has gone awry: he allowed factions to reassert in UMNO, he tried too hard to be returned in the March general elections, he tries too hard to control UMNO after its general assembly and elections later this month, but with the wounded Anwar on the loose, he is forced into a corner. In a nutshell, he took office as the weakest prime minister yet, tried too hard, and fudged the rules, to make him strong, but failed.

At last Wednesday's (08 September 2004) cabinet meeting, three ministers – Datin Seri Rafidah Aziz, Dato' Nazri Aziz, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim – demanded to know why Dato' Seri Anwar was given the saturation coverage in the media and why Pak Lah's son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaludin, was at the Anwar residence at midnight on the day of his release. He sidestepped the question about his son-in-law, although he had told the press that Mr Khairy had gone to the Anwar residence because the former deputy prime minister wanted his help to obtain his passport to travel to Munich for his surgery. He said there was no deal with Dato' Seri Anwar. He insisted Dato' Seri Anwar would be neither in UMNO nor the government; the political party he is affiliated to would never be in the government; and ordered the media coverage stopped forthwith. All this showed his weakness. The trio had their own reason for raising the Anwar issue: the first hates him with a passion, the second is still close to him and does all he can to put the government in a spot, the third would be forcibly retired should Dato' Seri Anwar be a force in UMNO.

This raises questions galore. Is his cabinet response to sideline the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, who works through UMNO state liaison chiefs to bar Dato' Seri Anwar's return to UMNO? It is widely known that Pak Lah is bent on forcing Dato' Seri Najib out after the UMNO general assembly and elections. It is an open secret that amongst the 18 "big fish" corrupt persons Pak Lah talked of, two are Dato' Seri Najib and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. He could well have moved against the couple if the Anwar release had not upset his plans. But they must now work with each other; and one tries to dominate the other before that. But each know the other is his worst enemy in politics, and not helped by the hostility of their wives to each other. Pak Lah sees control slipping from him. He had to state in public he would not under any circumstance allow Dato' Seri Anwar in UMNO. He told an UMNO wanita delegation led its chief, Datin Seri Rafidah, today (14 September 2004) that he agrees with Tun Mahathir and the two federal court judges that Dato' Seri Anwar is a sodomist. The delegation had met him to know why Mr Khairy, and not the Immigration Department, had to arrange for the Anwar passport.

Pak Lah and Dato' Seri Najib go to this month's UMNO general assembly and elections on the defensive. The Anwar release had put them in a spot. Delegates chosen to speak at the assembly, as many UMNO leaders fear, could well throw caution to the winds and speak on the Anwar affair. They might not, but UMNO leaders are in shell shock over its likelihood. For six years, the man in prison kept the UMNO-led BN government, and UMNO, in a prison of their own. Now that he is out, he threatens to have them look over their shoulders to see what he does before deciding what to do. So far Dato' Seri Anwar has refused to be drawn into the vicious attacks on him. He is used to so much calumny and hostility that he refuses to react. It makes those against him the more nervous.

They are frightened that the Federal Court tomorrow would allow his request to rehear its decision to dismiss his appeal against the corruption conviction and sentence. The former Attorney-General and now head of the national human rights organisation, Suhakam, Tan Sri Abu Talib Osman, says the federal court had no right to review its own judgements. He is wrong. It can, in the M.G.G. Pillai case. But his statement is calculated to pressure the federal court to dismiss it in the Anwar case. There is no guarantee yet if it would allow the Anwar appeal. But if it does not, the little hope that the Anwar release gave to the judiciary would be wiped out, even if the decision is on valid grounds. Tan Sri Abu Talib should have kept quiet; for his statement is seen as undue pressure on the federal court judges. But it also reflects the nervousness about Dato' Seri Anwar. For him, it does not matter as much: his argument is that since the sodomy charges cannot be sustained, how could he then misuse his authority to investigate it when it was first raised long before his arrest? If he gets his review, he would have wait a year or more before the federal court rehears his case. Whatever happens, he would return to active politics in April 2008. So, why is the government, UMNO, BN, and others so nervous?

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com