I refer to the Malaysiakini article ISA needed for absolute national security.

The writer’s ramblings about Anwar Ibrahim's "barbaric acts of treason" and the virtues of ISA only confirms, to readers that he is in the twilight of his life and ideas. The writer is still stuck in a time-capsule, unable to see that Malaysians have come a long way from the days when they can be cowed by threats of ISA, or ominous papers signed by mortals like Syed Hamid Albar.

People like me who lived through the darkest episodes of 1998/99 still remember this name during the Mahathir-led conspiracy to oust Anwar. Ask Arab-American taxi driver Jamal Amro, he will tell you.

This cab-driver has more dignity and honour than those Barisan Nasional leaders that Mustapha so love and defend. It was reported then that Jamal had stood his ground, and made police reports against the writer of trying to bribe him in order to "confess" that he had procured boys and women for Anwar Ibrahim.

The Malaysian embassy in Washington then was so ashamed of this scandal, that it was forced to issue a statement distancing itself from the writer. "The embassy would like to state in relation to the allegations made by Jamal Amro, the embassy has no prior knowledge of any contact between the two individuals concerned.

“The embassy further wishes to state that the embassy official in question was not acting on instruction of the embassy in this matter," it had said.

The writer, despite having served the highly regarded diplomatic mission, now finds himself, in the twilight of his life, being mentioned along with other players in the 1998 bid to destroy Anwar.

The writer has a lot of explaining to do after causing embarrassment even to the conspirators in the Anwar saga. He has to explain to us first whether he has sullied the good name of Malaysian diplomats overseas before he can even talk about things like "transparency".