The remarkable admission of the Malaysian Special Branch chief, the first witness for the prosecution in the trial for corruption and sodomy of the ousted deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, creates more problems for the embattled administration of Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed.  He all but admitted that he did what Dato' Seri Anwar told him to do since he was the deputy prime minister, and that he would not hesitate to take orders from the
prime minister himself and do the opposite, should it be asked of him.  The awesome vaunted professionalism of the Special Branch, it seems now, is so only if the administration wants it to be.  The frightening implications of this admission does not augur well for the police and the administration.  I shall not touch on the implications of this for the accused, but Malaysian newspapers and media can now be ordered to vary its coverage to ignore any suggestion that the prosecution case seems to slip away from it or could comfort supporters of he who must be destroyed.

If the first witness can stumble so badly, what then of the others.  Dato' Seri Anwar himself maintains his equanimity from the dock, insisting, when he can, to reporters about the now readily believable political conspiracy which led to his incarceration. Even if that is not, the hamhanded shown so far does not augur well for the prosecution;  that should not mean that the defence is clear; we do not know yet what evidence would be proferred that could put paid to Dato' Seri Anwar's political career.  At the same time, the defence heat on prosecution witnesses -- Mr Christopher Fernando was particularly deadly yesterday -- can damage the larger political kudos that the government and UMNO expects from Dato' Seri Anwar's conviction.  All this before the December 13 Extraordinary General Meeting of UMNO to consider constitutional amendments must give them all sleepless nights.

The prime minister did not expect his former deputy to fight back as he has.  But then the government made mistakes it should not have.  Dismissing Dato' Seri Anwar from the government and expelling him from UMNO to ensure he could not return to Malaysian politics was the first;  detaining him and his cohorts under the Internal Security Act was second;  refusing him bail was the third; mishandling the demonstrations which began in support of Dato' Seri Anwar but which quickly spread to a larger political reformation in which Dr Mahathir did not have a role was another.  Whatever the foreign reservations of the way the case is handled in the High
Court, the more damaging impact is the Malay perception of the case.

The prosecution has indicated it would call 52 witnesses, including Dr Mahathir;  his political secretary, Dato' Aziz Shamsuddin;  two cabinet ministers, Tun Daim Zainuddin and Dato' Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob;  the Attorney General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah;  the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor;  the author of the book, "50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Be Prime Minister", Mr Khalid Jufri Bakar Shah.  Although it is the prosecution's right whether to call them into the witness box, it cannot, in the present climate, refuse to call them.  If the first witness is any indication about how the others would be, then the prime minister is in more trouble than he could possibly have imagined.  And the Attorney General may have to reconsider his threat to swamp Dato' Seri Anwar with more criminal charges.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my