Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail apparently wants to have his last word on charges being thrown out because of vague dates, after Anwar's successful appeal against the charge of sodomy.

On Monday, the Court of Appeal released a janitor convicted of four charges of raping his daughter. The janitor had served seven years jail before his appeal was heard.

Abdul Gani Patail said: "With this judgment now we have no choice but to withdraw all rape cases with vague dates. I can tell you that it is going to affect many cases and this is bad news for rape victims."

The Star reported that: 'Abdul Gani, known for his empathy for cases involving aggression against women and children, said most rape victims could not provide detailed information on the time and date of the incidents'.

Any first year law student knows that charges are drafted by the AG's chambers. It is too easy for him to appear to have empathy with women and then say its their fault for not remembering dates.

It should be up to the AG to ensure that police and prosecutors have done the proper investigations into any criminal case. Is he trying to deflect attention from the poor drafting of charges or the inability of police to produce evidence to convict? Blaming rape victims is a sure easy way out on this one.

The AG should first re-check and double check the law here and elsewhere and work on proving the charge, instead of throwing cases out. Ths is what lawyers do in private practice. They never say die to their clients and work pro-actively around any bad legal issue to redevelop arguments.

Why does the AG not do this and instead take the easiest way out as soon as a problem is presented?