A repeat of a sham trial?

Under the protégé of the first…will it be the same…or will the public remain as gullible?

In the natural order of things, a sifu (or mentor) never teaches all to his toudai (or protégé) but like everything else, there are of course exceptions where the latter is more talented.

Then, for the second time round, both prosecution and defence should be better prepared than the last time, learning from previous mistakes as well as having some surprises (if ever there are any left) which remain to be seen.

Lim Kit Siang had already questioned the timing of the DNA Bill, which seems tailor-made for Anwar's case.

Anwar said he is better prepared this time, but he was referring to the leadership of PKR in the ‘worst case’ scenario of him being jailed for the flimsiest of evidence, such was his confidence in the judiciary.

Malaysia-Today.net : - The Sodomy Conspirators: Hoisted by their own petard

History Repeats Itself
By Kenny Gan, Suara Keadilan

It is said that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.

Eleven years later, the nation is set to witness a repeat of the gut-wrenching melodrama and tragi-comedy of yet another Anwar sodomy trial, which again is set to shake the nation and drag public confidence in our enforcement institutions to new lows.

But the stakes are higher now as Anwar has become Opposition Leader and one who carries the hopes of millions of Malaysians for a new and better Malaysia.

The political-social environment has also changed significantly with the dissipation of Mahathir’s climate of fear and the pervasiveness of the Internet loosening the government’s stranglehold on information.

More importantly, the formation of a two party system by the enlarged and united opposition forced the ruling party to be democratically competitive.

In this new environment, it would be political suicide to try a repeat of the previous sodomy caper. However, those who have held the levers of power for too long are sometimes blinded by their arrogance besides overestimating their abilities and under-estimating the public.
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his closing remarks:

The political masters may have though that putting Anwar away will solve their problems but it could hasten their demise.

The opposition coalition has grown beyond Anwar and no longer requires his personal participation to stay together.

A conviction of Anwar seen as unfair and a political hatchet job will energize the opposition and create so much public sympathy and disgust that PR will ride the wave to victory in the next general election.

The perpetrators are tampering with powerful forces beyond their control. If they have nothing on Anwar it is best to swallow their pride and just drop the charges.