The kind of misplaced judgment expressed by Dr M Bakri Musa ('An Anwar in exile will be an Anwar forgotten', May 4) is a clear example of how the Hippocratic Oath shifts into Hypocritic Odes when revulsion towards anything just and good (with relative to anything evil, dictatorial) transcends widely-accepted norms of basic human decency.

Sometimes I wonder by what pre-requisite the editors go by in bringing such views into a regular column in malaysiakini which, like it or not, is a honeycomb for those who hunger for news, unadulterated and unrestrained by the present ruling regime.

Is it to provide an 'alternative view' from the many popular anti-establishment propensity expressed daily therein? If so, there are plenty of them: in the form of seven government-controlled dailies.

Do we need another one? Heck, if we do we don't have to turn to some deluded foreign-based Malaysian physician; just bring in Hishammuddin Hussein back in again. You would have an insider's view - and a minister's at that, and perhaps more factual in content, albeit obsequious, instead of farcical. Is it because malaysiakini confuses writers having good English writing skills with those of good sense of judgment, acumen, repute and substance?

When justifying his odium for "Anwar's first-class treatment", the good doctor gave the melodramatic case of "hundreds of poor students unable to sit for their standard six examinations for lack of money."

Since when did standard six pupils have to pay to sit for UPSR examinations?

The RM36 collected at the beginning of the academic year is like any other school fee, and indicates parents' acceptance of the state of education that their children are advanced into and double up as some kind of cost coverage for the computer usage, paper and printing materials for the UPSR exams that their children will sit in at year end. Heck, even their school uniforms cost more than that and I am not aware of parents in Malaysia not being able to afford school uniforms.

Perhaps if there ever was a case of standard six pupils being sacrificed for the purport of one felon, shouldn't the object of brunt be equally shifted towards another pundit who uses taxpayers' money to build a RM170-million palace for himself at the expense of 15,000 citizens whose applications to own low-cost houses have been turned down on the pretext that the government does not have enough money to construct such houses?

What about taxpayers' money being used to pay billions to one crony's MAS stocks whence professional evaluators valued them at less than half the price?

Taxpayers' money, my foot! The only reason I can't go on giving more examples is the lack of space to do so.

But ignorance aside, let's look at what standard norms of justice and humanitarian are all about. Apart from Umno stalwarts, sycophantic writers and some physicians, we have not heard or read international voices finding it preposterous that Anwar should be treated by the physician of his choice at the venue of his choice.

On the other hand, on the local scenery, 107 luminaries, including a former general, cabinet minister, several literary laureates, lawyers, educationists, novelists and, yes, - several doctors with big hearts - have signed a petition that voices exactly the opposite of the writer's views. And if it weren't for the patronising, bigger-than-life aura of that other good doctor looming over their heads, I am sure countless others - be they politicians from Dr Mahathir Mohamad's side, businessmen fearing impairment for absconding from 'politically-wrong-albeit-morally-correct' issues, academicians of repute, even ministers - would join in the fray to put down their John Hancocks.

And on the foreign scenery? Many, many presidents and prime ministers of nations have expressed revulsion about our PM's ways of handling the Anwar issue, all with the same suspicious concern: If the official government statement while Anwar was in detention under the Internal Security Act in 1998 that he was "safe and sound" really was some sort of a reverse-reconnoitre of the black-eye, one shudders to think what the scalpels of a government-controlled surgeon could do. After all, we all know what the scalpel of the executive-controlled judiciary did to those very strong evidences and alibis in the Anwar trials.

And treated like a Sultan? When Mohamed Azmin Ali asked Anwar Ibrahim about that photograph splashed on the frontpage of local newspapers, depicting prison officials treating Anwar with sumptuous meals of roast chicken, udang harimau and briyani pilao, a few days after the infamous black-eye incident, Anwar replied that that was the first and last time he was ever given meals like that. And even that, for the purpose of photography, not humanity.

Perhaps if Bakri wants to know what a "convicted felon treated like a Sultan" really is like, then he should ask Abdullah Ang, the crony of that other good doctor, who had a water bed installed in prison and was happily driven around KL by chauffeurs while serving sentence.

Want more? Ask Tan Koon Swan, another good friend of the prime minister, who, despite being found guilty and convicted, was frequently seen shopping in supermarkets during his tenancy behind bars. Having our sense of right and wrong skewed up big time is one thing, but by a physician who upholds the Hippocratic creed? It shames the profession.

As for those "hundreds of poor students who cannot sit for their standard six exams due to lack of money", if they are that poor, they might not even have money for their medical needs and care-taking, too. What we need are some good doctors who have already made their fortunes elsewhere to come back to serve these people for free.

Quid pro quo, doctor. Or quit for good.