All said and done about Pak lah's first 100 days, I would say that the single most important issue that the rakyat (people) should insist on is the independence of our institutions. This is not limited to the judiciary.

It includes for example the office of the attorney-general now under Abdul Gani Patail. The AG's Chambers is not without scandal. There was the destruction of evidence by Abu Talib Othman when he was AG, there was the time of Mokhtar Abdullah and the infamous trials of Anwar Ibrahim.

Defence lawyers accept whatever briefs clients are willing to bring to them, regardless if these are government or private briefs. The AG is legally the adviser to the government. In Eric Chia's case, the AG is also prosecutor. I hope human rights groups and the Bar will set up monitoring teams to scrutinise the AG's office in this showcase piece of Pak Lah's fight against corruption.

We have to ensure that there is no fear, favour or patronage in that office in this case especially as the accused has averred that heads will roll. We can only assume from this, that people in high offices may be involved.

There is already disquiet with Abdul Gani for not prosecuting Rafidah Aziz and Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik for alleged corruption. According to Dr Rais Yatim, the decision not to file charges was the lack of evidence. He said this in Parliament, despite the fact that the ACA had recommended prosecution as disclosed by documents uploaded on the Internet.

Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Keadilan Youth chief, went to court and jail for informing the rakyat of this infamy.

By the way Chia has been allowed bail. Obviously corruption is not such as serious an offence as consensual sex between adults according to our judges!