The ebb and flow of revelations in each case make it very difficult now to sustain belief that Rohaizat Othman was a victim of circumstances, as his boosters claim, and that Beng Hock was a hapless pawn in a complex web of corruption.

As developments spurt and twist, the only constant the public can expect is surprise - at the extent to which matters, like the selection process for election candidates and the influence of politicians and others on vital institutions of state, have deteriorated.

Sure, the proceedings and the findings of the royal commission on the Lingam video tape early last year had fortified long-held suspicion that powerful politicians and corporate figures wielded undue influence over some judges.

NONEGiven that as backdrop, it can be said that it is not of much surprise that some officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, as alleged by an unsigned letter purportedly written by a MACC employee, are tools of string-pulling politicians.

In Malaysian politics the burden of proof weighs disproportionately on those who harbour suspicion than on the suspect.

The judicial adage that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done does not have its analogue in respect of investigative agencies: Those who probe and nab the corrupt must not only proceed fairly but must be seen as such as well.

Thus you need a series of incidents, of mounting concern to a watching public, to force the powers that be to authorise a royal commission to investigate and propose recommendations for the restoration of seemingly derelict institutions.

The drift, rot and inertia

Even then, pace the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Police released in March 2005 and those of another commission on the Lingam tape that were submitted last year, you cannot be sure that the restorative measures proposed would be implemented.

Almost always, the politics of the matter trumps other imperatives, like the urgent need to restore the health of vital institutions and the concomitant need to see that justice is done.

Hence we are left to the decidedly untendered mercies of more custodial deaths and more instances of turpitude among players, including lawyers, in the justice system to force change.

In other words, things must continue to fall - even tragically and spectacularly - apart before a rotten core is allowed to be exposed to reform. The drift, rot and inertia stemming from a 52-year incumbency are fiendishly hard to undo.

If on polling next Tuesday the voters of Permatang Pasir agree, the task becomes a mite less so.