COMMENT | In 2005, when Anwar Ibrahim was in the political wilderness, claiming to be a victim of political manoeuvrings, he spoke at the Law Asia conference in Brisbane, declaring: “There are only two kinds of lawyers - those who know the law and those who know the judge.”

For good measure, he explained: “So, all these years behind bars have made me realise what it's like to be at the receiving end of unjust laws administered by unjust politicians. The earlier charge sheet was long, but there was to be no trial.

“There was no need for a defence lawyer because I wasn't going to be given the opportunity to make my case and get myself out. I was put there pursuant to an executive order signed by the home minister. This was my first real experience of the interplay of law and politics: the law was unjust, and the politics was expedient.”

Four years later, still in the wilderness and another sodomy trial looming, he quoted Austrian Nobel Prize laureate Friedrich August von Hayek, who held that government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand, which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how the authority will use its coercive powers in given circumstances, and to plan one’s individual affairs based on this knowledge.

The rule of law refers to the fundamental principles that govern the exercise of power within a society. At its core, it means that the authority of the government and its officials must always...