Abdul Gani Patail is today tapped as Malaysia's top legal officer. The legal fraternity, and the rest of the country, cannot but be flabbergasted by this astounding appointment.

This is, after all, the man - who as chief prosecutor in former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's trials - was unable to get the dates of the alleged sodomy acts right, not once but twice. This is the man who was responsible for parading the infamous semen-stained mattress during the court hearings.

More importantly, this is the man who the Federal Court said should provide "some answers to the allegations on the fabrication of evidence" when it threw out the Zainur Zakaria's contempt of court case.

The news of Gani's appointment as attorney-general came only weeks after human rights lawyer Raja Aziz Addruse lamented the possible return of the old order in the judiciary.

"We may be in the process of seeing history repeating itself. The country will be the loser once again if it does. It is indeed a great pity. Instead of going forward, we have now taken a step back," wrote Raja Aziz in the latest issue of the Bar Council's journal Insaf .

Raja Aziz was referring to the appointment of justice Ahmad Fairuz, instead of the more senior and capable justice Malik Ahmad as the chief judge of Malaya, the person in charge of the peninsula's High Courts.

His article, originally meant as an editorial for the journal, eventually appeared as an opinion piece after some members of the council succumbed to a bout of cold feet.

The editor of Insaf went on to criticise Ahmad's performance as a judge, including when as an Appellate Court judge, he dismissed lawyer Zainur's appeal against the contempt verdict delivered upon him.

Zainur was convicted by High Court judge S Augustine Paul for contempt after he filed an application on behalf of Anwar Ibrahim to disqualify Abdul Gani and his colleague, Azahar Mohamad, as prosecutors in the corruption trial against him.

The two were allegedly involved in a move to fabricate evidence of sexual misconduct against Anwar by extracting evidence from his tennis partner S Nallakaruppan, who was detained for illegal possession of firearms which is punishable by death.

Abdul Gani and Azahar had allegedly tried to implicate Nalla as an accomplice to Anwar's sexual misconduct offences and offered to lessen Nalla's sentence if he gave evidence against the jailed deputy prime minister.

When Zainur failed to apologise to the court for filing the application, justice Paul found him in contempt - an act which according to the Federal Court violated "proper procedures".

Men of disrepute

It is still unclear why Attorney-General Ainum Mohamed Saaid resigned after less then a year at the helm. Officially, it is for "health reasons". However, observers believed otherwise. Especially after the sudden fall from grace of Ainum's mentor and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

But one thing is certain. Over the past few months, the government is becoming more and more apprehensive over a judiciary that is rightly showing its independence.

Indeed, Raja Aziz is right.

Where appointments are politically motivated, it is not the confidence of the public in the judiciary alone that is undermined.

"Good judges, too, will feel no pride in being part of the judicial system where neither merit nor seniority is recognised," he warned.

The same can be said about the attorney-general, who alone will decide which cases should be prosecuted.

Major changes are being made in the judicial order. We are no doubt reverting to the bad old days when the judiciary was in great disrepute.

The promises early this year - about how Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah and Ainum would clean up the justice system - appeared to be no more than a mirage.

One is gone. The other will follow soon when his term expires on retirement next year. And in their place will be men and women with little integrity, intellect and ability.