Anwar acquittal alters Malaysian political landscape — Kim Quek

January 11, 2012

JAN 11 — The judge walked into the court room, read the judgment in one minute, and disappeared into his chamber.

By the time the flabbergasted people in the court room recovered from their shock and realised what it all meant, they jumped in uncontrollable jubilation with shouts of joy, burst of tears, hugging, back-slapping, utterances of congratulations and thanks.

Within minutes, the same ecstatic outburst also came over the thousands of supporters gathered outside the court building. In fact, the sense of joy and emotional relief has quickly reverberated right across the nation, transcending race and religion.

Such was the high drama that greeted the totally unexpected acquittal of Anwar Ibrahim from the sodomy charge by Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on January 9.

And such was the impact of this sensational Anwar story that it travels instantly around the globe with international TV channels like Al-Jazeera and BBC stopping their programmes to break the news, which no doubt has also brought relief and satisfaction to overseas pro-democracy and human rights bodies and well-wishers who had been anxiously awaiting the outcome of this sodomy trial.

No doubt the heightened sensation derived partly from the shock element of the verdict as no one had expected an acquittal. This is due to the fact that the trial had been so outrageously unjust and vindictive right from the start that everyone recognised it as political persecution and had anticipated a conviction and possibly instant jail on D-day, January 9. And so, imagine the joy of learning the opposite in such a dramatic fashion at the end of this long drawn ordeal.

It is common human experience that it is only when one is on the verge of losing a dear person that he discovers how much he loves that person.

And so it is with Anwar Ibrahim. The nationwide anxieties (expecting the worst scenario) that were steadily building up in the run up to judgment day, and the irrepressible smiling faces that appeared everywhere upon learning Anwar’s acquittal is the best testimony of the hitherto not so obvious truth that the nation has in fact all along treasured his leadership.

Such spontaneous response is also indication that Anwar’s indefatigable struggle to bring an end to the long antiquated and corrupt autocracy in this country, against unparalleled cruelty inflicted on him, has not gone unnoticed and unappreciated by the people, despite the regime’s high-handed media black-out on him all this time.