Dr Mahathir Mohamad may be enjoying a poignant moment of grandeur, ovation and grandstanding at the Asean leaders' meeting in Bali.

But the aging leader, on the eve of retirement, is displaying mental insecurity and anxiety because the spectre of Anwar Ibrahim's unfair sacking, incarceration, humiliation, heavy-handed treatment and deeply flawed trials continue to shadow Mahathir's every move.

Anwar is still strikingly relevant in the Malaysian politics. He remains the person capable of threatening Mahathir's supremacy. Anwar became a patriotic martyr who focused popular indignation against the corruption, nepotism, crony capitalism under Mahathir's regime, and he is determined to champion the cause in upholding his non-violent struggle and sacrifice for social justice, human equality and dignity in Malaysia.

Not many Malaysians, and the Asean leaders in particular, would disagree that Anwar is a prisoner of conscience, victim of injustice, high-level conspiracy, double standards and manipulation.