Key persons are generally controlled with a mixture of threats and inducements. Mahathir elevates corrupt men because they can be blackmailed on their past misdeeds and relied on to carry out his orders no matter how distasteful. Both the present Chief Justice Eusoff Chin and the Attorney-General Mokhtar Abdullah are tainted with corruption but are still bestowed with honorary awards. The ex-Chief of Police, Rahim Noor was given a second term for his unwavering loyalty to Mahathir and no doubt looking forward to lucrative directorships on his retirement. Judges who have skeletons in their closets are handpicked by the Chief Justice to hear cases that the government cannot afford to lose. As for the mass media the mainstream dailies and TV stations are all owned by the government, the ruling party or loyal cronies.

Anwar Ibrahim was part of the system once and on this basis he has been attacked by people who questioned his role in the corrupt system.  They pointed out that he helped Mahathir break the independence of the judiciary in 1988 but is now asking for justice from the courts now. This is true but one must understand that UMNO is a party which tolerates no dissent. Had Anwar not played along his head would have rolled sooner. He knew that he had to change the system gradually from within and had he become Prime Minister he would be in a position to clean the party's deeply entrenched corruption, cronyism and nepotism. He had rose in politics without enriching himself. As deputy PM, he had cultivated powerful enemies for pressing for prosecution of corrupt leaders and standing in the way of Mahathir's reckless spending on cronies-benefiting Mega projects and sweetheart privatization deals. He was the heir apparent to the Prime Ministership, but it became so that Mahathir and his cronies began to view him as a future threat to their wealth and their ability to skim off the economy. His quiet action to reform the party by having his supporters speak out against corruption, cronyism and nepotism was seen by Mahathir as a naked challenge to his position. So the man had to be destroyed at all cost even if it meant abusing every possible institution and making Malaysia an international pariah. Anwar Ibrahim is a true Malaysian hero who wanted to bring about a better future for Malaysia with a cleaner political system and a fairer distribution of wealth. Malaysians and foreign friends should rally around and demand justice for him. The fight justice embrace far wider issues than just one man, it is not just for Anwar Ibrahim, but for every Malaysian.