I refer to the Malaysiakini report Dr M: Sodomy again? Gov't not so stupid .

Mahathir says that the government is not ‘so stupid or unimaginative’ as to trump up sodomy allegations against Anwar Ibrahim all over again.

Mahathir is putting his foot in his mouth again. Is he implying that the government, which he headed for 22 years, was stupid the last time?

On the latest charge, yes, this government is as stupid or even more stupid than the previous government to try and pull off the same trick all over again thinking that no one would actually suspect them of being that stupid.

Nothing is beyond these desperate people in dolled-up suits as they try to cling on to power. These people and their hangers-on are fighting with their backs to the wall and are capable of doing anything including fabrication, stage-management and ‘disappearances’. It has been proven in the past.

The last institutions we should trust on Earth are the AG’s chambers, the police and the judiciary. Perhaps things are getting a bit better at the ACA, otherwise I would have included them as well.

In fact, I even suspect that the ACA views both the AG’s chambers and the police with utter contempt. It’s a good thing the ACA can now initiate criminal prosecutions without going through the AG’s chambers.

Both the AG and IGP stand accused of fabricating evidence in the last Anwar Ibrahim trial and instead of packing them off on leave, the government has allowed them to carry on as usual and even issue statements brazenly on the latest case on how ‘professional" they would be and how everything would be done strictly according to the law and procedures.

Professional, my foot! Who are these people kidding? Have they no sense of shame? In Japan, they would have committed hara kiri , as Mahathir observed not so long ago when mercilessly running down Abdullah in public and pushing for his resignation to ensure his) Mahathir’s family’s dynastic stake in the politics of the land and its ensuing spoils.

The sad part of all this is that no one is minding the economy which continues to go to the dogs. Meanwhile, the heat is off Abdullah for a while at least as the focus shifts to the new sodomy allegations against Anwar.

It was not so long ago that Abdullah was under constant daily pressure to throw in the towel and make way for a new team favoured by sore loser Mahathir and his people. Mahathir, in fact, even wanted Abdullah to simply run away and not come back.

The lesson that we can draw from the latest Anwar Ibrahim episode is that we badly need some American-style oversight committees on, for a start, the AG’s chambers, the Special Branch, the IGP’s office, Bank Negara and Petronas. These oversight committees should be composed of members of parliament, both government and opposition, and senators.

The oversight committees, in their terms of reference, should also have the power to recommend Grand Jury investigations against wrong-doers rather than wait for the cases to lumber their way through the AG’s chambers and the Judiciary.

Anwar himself, at his first press conference after a day in detention, has labeled the government as totally and unbelievably incompetent for the way they went about bringing him in and his shabby treatment thereafter.

‘Why should they treat me in this manner and lock me up with hardcore criminals for the night?’ asked Anwar. ‘No Malaysian should be treated in this manner’.