Going by the track record of the three judges in Anwar Ibrahim's bail application - Pajan Singh Gill, Richard Malanjum and Hashim Mohd Yusof - the former deputy prime minister is expected to stay put in prison.

After all, the three appellate court justices - all of whom were promoted from the High Court only a year ago - had rejected Anwar's appeal, without giving so much of a reason, against his nine-year sodomy conviction in April.

More important, however, is that the trio - after having been told of the 'inconsistency' in the decision involving Anwar's co-accused Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja - revoked the High Court's RM50,000 bail to Sukma, granted three years ago.

Sukma, to his horror, was ordered by the judges to immediately serve his six-year jail sentence in Kajang prison.

Thus, it shouldn't surprise many that Anwar - and adopted brother Sukma - will continue to serve their jail sentences even as their appeals are being heard in the higher courts.

Senior judges overlooked

At the same time, there are talks within the legal circles that having hardly warmed their benches in the appellate court, some judges would see yet another promotion, this time to the Federal Court.

The death of justice Mohtar Abdullah yesterday has opened up another vacancy in the country's highest court - now three.

Among those rumored to be promoted included those in the Court of Appeal who have just heard - and rejected - Anwar's sodomy appeal.

The Bar Council, which represents the nation's 10,000 lawyers, considered such blabber serious enough to issue a warning against the policy of 'leap-frogging' judges within the judicial hierarchy, where a number of competent senior judges have been overlooked for promotions over the years.

The council feared that such rash promotions would create the perception that judges might be elevated based on favouritism or as a form of reward.

Moreover, those selected to fill the three vacant Federal Court posts will have Anwar's fate in their hands. The current crop of judges in this court - in one way or another - were involved in previous cases related to Anwar, thus ruling themselves out for future hearings.

The Federal Court is no doubt the final arbitrator to Anwar's battery of appeals as they, without failed, are being dismissed in the lower courts.

Already, before the Federal Court is the unprecedented review of its own decision against Anwar's first conviction on abuse of power. It too will hear the sodomy appeal, now that it has been dismissed by the appellate court.

Public rebuke

Chief justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Halim, when the time comes for him to announce the selected few, should explain his decision to the public.

The promotion of judges must be based on not so much on the criteria of seniority but the 'best and brightest'. Our judiciary - already tainted as it is - demands nothing less.

Indeed, Ahmad Fairuz should empathise with the fears expressed by the Bar Council.

After all, his elevation as Court of Appeal president last year bypassed a more senior - and for many, capable - colleague, prompting a public rebuke from former Bar Council chairperson Raja Aziz Addruse.

After serving a brief three-and-a-half-month stint as the judiciary's No 2 man, Ahmad Fairuz was subsequently tapped as chief justice early this year - indeed, a rather rapid rise for a judge.

As for the three appellate court judges who will hear Anwar's bail application next week, they would know well that sodomy is a bailable offence and that the former politician is in need of surgery for a serious medical problem.

They should do what's right for justice, which is indeed what's right for themselves.

When the detention orders of six reformasi leaders who were held under the Internal Security Act expired last month, many had expected they would remain in prison. However, to our surprise, they did walk free.

On July 14, we would be happy to be proven wrong, again.