January 9th, the day when all eyes were on Malaysia.
Somehow, I was not surprised by the verdict that Anwar has been acquitted. Before this, while Anwar and his team went on a nationwide campaign to rally for support, and when talks are high on the fate of Pakatan Rakyat assuming that Anwar is going to jail (and speculations on who should be the interim Prime Minister), I've shared with a few close friends to take a chill pill because I don't think Anwar is going to jail.
Firstly, by charging Anwar, Najib (assuming the conspiracy theory that the BN government is behind all this) risk repeating the history of 1998 Reformasi when the former deputy Prime Minister were sacked and accused for the first time, or at the least - as some argued that the reputation of Anwar has suffered some tarnishes by the continuous attacks from his enemies and might not reciprocate the same public anger of 1998 - Najib might still risk giving away the middle ground votes to Pakatan Rakyat out of sympathy. There is a chance that he might go the hard way to finish him off, but he is not usually a high risk taker, and my case were proven.
Secondly, if Anwar was charged, it will reinforces the claim by Pakatan Rakyat of the tyranny of BN and give them a moral boost that the fight goes on. Now that Anwar has been acquitted, Pakatan Rakyat and those who cried foul previously are caught in between by their own words. Does it mean you were right to say Anwar was innocent, or were you wrong to say the judiciary is not independant? Certainly, I personally do not think that a single verdict that is perceived as fair is substantial to justify the legitimacy of the entire judiciary system; for two reasons: 1) It could just be a game played by Barisan Nasional for the reasons I've just mentioned above, and 2) even within the worst system, there could be people with conscious that does a few right.
