Mahathir says he will not lose sleep over the sacking and subsequent incarceration of Anwar Ibrahim, in spite of what the courts finds. He says that knowing what he knew then, he was forced to make an executive decision as befitting the leader of our country.
Perhaps when he finally wakes up, Mahathir will realise that Pak Lah has in his pedestrian and inimical way, exposed him as the power-mad leader that he was, while at the same time consigning him to political obsolescence.
Anwar's acquittal is the stuff that makes legends, a sad hero persecuted for standing up against a powerful and cruel king.
Mahathir's claim of Anwar's homosexual habits had always been tenuous, even with privileged information. But even if it were true, did it warrant such extreme measures, not only in the manner that he was put away, but also in the public discrediting of him on moral grounds?
Mahathir sought a suppliant judiciary to legitimise his accusations and justify his actions, but shamelessly refused to testify in court and the conclusive evidence that he was privy to never saw the light of day.
Now that the judiciary that he had counted upon has suddenly and unexpectedly found its moral spine, Mahathir has been left truly exposed with only a fig leaf of authority to shield from total embarrassment.
He says Anwar is 'generous' to him but surely Anwar can only be generous if he had been wronged.
Mahathir can only hope that future generations will be as generous towards him whenever Anwar's time in jail is remembered.