Having just read about magistrate Juliana Mohamed's ruling on the Irene Fernandez case, I could not help but chuckle at this predictable outcome.

In light of the latest debacle involving our PM, yet again, perhaps the deputy public prosecutor would like to recapitulate, for the PM's benefit, the same allegations that he leveled at Fernandez - that she had brought "disrepute to the nation's good name", that "freedom of speech is not freedom to say anything you like", and "...do not shoot without first checking the facts".

The only difference between the outcome of a case of this nature now and 30 years ago, when I was a high-school student in Malaysia, is that the trial lasted as long as it did.

Thirty years ago, a similar decision would have been rendered in a fraction of the time. Hey, maybe we did make some progress in the judicial system!