Realistically speaking, a man who is a sexual deviant and who had been convicted of abuse of power while at the highest level of authority, stands no chance of using whatever residual influence he may have to create a social upheaval of any sort.

Now that former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim had already been punished according to the law, why is it still necessary to deprive him of the normal legal and judicial indulgence accorded to a normal citizen?

Namely, first, the normal o­ne-third sentence remission for good behaviour while being incarcerated, and second, bail pending appeal against the second conviction.

Already his sentences were to run consecutively and his remand period was not considered as part of his sentence. Quite exceptional really, for those of us familiar with the legal conventions.

These are bailable offences in the first place. But bail, which is a judicial discretion, was denied o­n both occasions. The public know that Anwar was not allowed to be free probably because it was feared that he was capable of raising public support for his cause at the expense of the government in power.

That was more than four years ago. Is the situation still the same? After all, the prime minister in all his wisdom was reported to have said that the public will forget about Anwar within six months of his conviction.

Consider these: His conviction was upheld by the wisest men sitting in the highest court of the land. Definitely, a man without morals.

A lot of his supporters have supposedly deserted him. According to the media, almost everyone who is a somebody in government had professed to his unsuitability to lead.

The country is doing exceptionally well economically, in spite of repeated attempts by foreigners to sabotage it, racial ties have never been better, and Anwar's patron, the USA, is not the most popular country to Malaysians, especially Malays.

Mahathir, Anwar's nemesis, is extremely popular to the point that if Mahathir is willing, Malaysians wish him to continue leading the country for as long as he wants.

To add to that, Malaysians are now so sensitive to fair play as to gather by the hundreds of thousands who appealed for justice for the Iraqis in a faraway land. I am sure we can also do the same for Anwar?

Not to appeal for his innocence - the court have taken care of that - but against the cruel and unusual punishment of treating him worse than the common criminal by depriving him bail which will allow him the opportunity to seek medical treatment not available to him as a convict.

Or is this the case of the Malay proverb, " Kuman di seberang laut nampak, tapi gajah di depan mata buta "!

So, let's hope that the court will release the man pending the exhaustion of all his appeal avenues. After all, he is a forgotten man who is also certified of ill-health. What are the chances of him being able to overturn all the great things achieved by Mahathir, or to be able to destroy the sensibilities of the happy and content Malaysian population who are in total indebtedness to Mahathir's genius and sacrifices?

And then there is always the ever professional and dependable Royal Malaysian Police to handle things should he be up to his mischief again. What is there to be worried about? It is not as if we are living in a house of cards here. Or are we?

I know I am not the o­nly o­ne thinking like this. If the government doesn't believe this, why don't Umno Youth test this by calling for a gathering in support of this proposal, at Stadium Bukit Jalil, provided there's a free concert by Siti Nurhaliza with free transportation thrown in. I bet hundreds of thousands will come in support of the idea.

But chances are, Anwar will not be given bail. The BN government is smart enough not believe its own lies about the substance of the man. And it suspects most Malaysians don't either. Not like " Si Luncai terjun dengan labu-labunya, biarkan, biarkan ".