Three powerful men with feet of clay

After a curious and calculated delay

Decided, to the public's great dismay

It was politics they wanted to play.

Great concern they had tried to display

To the man the top wanted to put away

That justice will be the order of the day

And the rule of law, the only true way.

But a charade is made obvious today

The judiciary in public, itself flogs, flays

Judicial independence is slain, slayed

On the altar of political expediency it lays.

The Chief Justice has tried hard to portray

A judiciary reformed from that of yesterday

Today's pretension reveals a deeper decay

Compromises led by the Honourable CJ.

Executive Supremacy now holds sway

Over justice, it will have its will and way

The Chief Justice can bark and bray

As long as he obeys "I Did It My Way".

Alas, it is a sad and most tragic day

Dignity of the judiciary they sold away

The hopes of this nation they betrayed

The bad old days are here to stay.

Note: On July 10, 2002, the three-man Federal Court bench unanimously dismissed former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his corruption conviction and sentence in a case he insists is political.