Love, war and Anwar
COMMENT Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman told US secretary of state Hillary Clinton yesterday: "It is in my interest and our interests to make sure Anwar (Ibrahim) gets a fair trial."
This is good news chaps. Good sense and sanity is at last coming back to our shores. But wait. My negative mind keeps on wondering what has suddenly gone right.
COMMENT Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman told US secretary of state Hillary Clinton yesterday: "It is in my interest and our interests to make sure Anwar (Ibrahim) gets a fair trial."
This is good news chaps. Good sense and sanity is at last coming back to our shores. But wait. My negative mind keeps on wondering what has suddenly gone right.
After some stretching of the imagination I have come up with the following scenario.
After the pre
ss conference yesterday, Anifah rounds up all the officials on the prosecution side of the trial including the deputy public prosecutors.
He says to them: “Guys, you all love the country, right?”
“Yes, we love the country,” they answer in unison.
“And the country is at war, right?”
“Yea, right.”
“At war with Anwar, right?”
“Right,” they again reply in unison.
And then comes the gem of it all:
“So, guys, it’s all fair in love and in war, right?”
‘‘Right!!!’’
“So go then, and do the needful to him.”
And so they do. They proceed with the trial as though nothing has happened.
Scripted end?
To them it really is fair in love and in war, especially when the boss says so and their jobs are hanging in the balance.
In this situatio
n independent thinking, conscience, principles, even morality, the rule of law and accompaniment of natural justice are expendable - like unwanted marbles, they are easily tossed into the drain.
Some months into the future, Anwar is found guilty, as expected by a benumbed citizenry, and as all along indicated by the script. He goes to jail.
Anifah then phones Clinton.
“Madam Secretary of State, I have good news. I have honoured my word. Anwar has been given a fair trial, like I said he’d get.”
Clinton is also not surprised. But she can’t do much as she has to react under the premises of international law, sovereignty and such.
She only says: “Poor Anwar, poor Malaysians. They deserve so much better than the present political leaders.”
AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. He hopes to provide some understanding to the issues at hand and wherever possible, suggest some solutions. He holds a Bachelor in Social Sciences (Leicester, UK) and a Diploma in Public Administration, Universiti Malaya.
