COMMENT | After Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election on May 9, 2018, a palpable sense of hope filled the air. 

It would seem as if the days when powerful politicians could act with impunity and when laws seemingly apply only to laypeople were coming to an end.

Anwar Ibrahim - who was at that time serving the third year of his five-year jail sentence after being convicted of sodomy a second time and jailed in February 2015 - was shown in photographs circulated on social media watching the election results with a reserved but joyful expression.

At the time, even before then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s full cabinet was revealed, Anwar was swiftly released from jail on May 16, 2018, courtesy of a royal pardon from the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the grounds that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

All this happened within a week of GE14.

I too was caught in the euphoria in the aftermath of the elections but Anwar’s speedy pardon stuck out to me as...