Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor said that changes in the political scene today could be taken as an indication that jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim might stand a chance in being released on bail.

He said the changes, including signs of a mellowed Dr Mahathir Mohamad made him feel optimistic about Anwar's chances in his bail application which is scheduled to be heard by the Court of Appeal on July 14.

He said Mahathir's recent statement on the last day of the recent Umno general assembly about Anwar showed that the prime minister's enmity against his former deputy has softened since 1998.

That year, the prime minister described Anwar as an immoral man who is not fit to be an Umno member.

"His subsequent comments on his former protege had always been very negative. However, when asked about Anwar again two weeks ago, Mahathir remarked that Anwar's fate can be decided by the future leadership. To me this is a major shift as compared to his stand in 1998," Ezam explained in an interview with malaysiakini.

He said that as Keadilan Youth leader, he has to view such a change in a positive manner and use it to convince people that the Anwar issue is not solely about politics but also involves the humanitarian aspect.

Ezam was hopeful that he could mobilise support from people of all political background to support Anwar's application for bail and his choice of medical treatment.

"Of course this does not mean that we are swaying from our struggle. We have to admit that he has friends in both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Barisan Alternatif (BA). People need not sacrifice their own political aspirations to agree with us on this issue."

"Maybe the people in BN were scared to show their support because Dr Mahathir was the stumbling block...but since that block has now mellowed ...we can remain hopeful," he said.

He also believed that Mahathir was the person responsible for the release of the ISA 6 and not his deputy and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as some would believe.

He said the decision to release them from ISA detention was made solely by the prime minister who gave the instruction to Abdullah before he attended the G8 Summit in France.

"Not only was Abdullah not responsible for our release, we were also told that he attempted to use the Special Branch to extend our detention as the SB report was not favourable to us," he said.

He also said that Abdullah had failed to take concrete steps towards building up confidence of the society in matters concerning human rights and law.

Asked what will be his next course of action should Anwar's bail application be denied, Ezam said that he would enhance the campaign at the international level.

He said his recent visit to Bangkok where he met a group of civil societies and politicians from Asean countries showed that human rights activists at the international level will not remain silent on the Anwar case.

"Their concern for Anwar and human rights issues in the country has never wavered. They also want to see Anwar freed. It is international issue. In fact, there is a group compiling human rights abuses on leaders like Anwar, Suu Kyi...so we will work on that platform, " he said.

Speaking on the offers to cross over by Umno, Ezam stressed that he has never considered any of the offers and was not interested to join the party.

He said those who made the offers were insincere as they were only interested to protect their position and interest in the party which is now undergoing a leadership change .

He added that BA supporters need not be disturbed by the offers as he is very committed with the reformasi agenda which would be boosted by the Keadilan-PRM merger.

Asked how the merger will benefit the BA in the coming general election, the youth leader said reformasi is about changing the political mind-set of Malaysians and not about winning seats.

"Of course political parties have to think about elections and winning seats but this is not the whole picture. It is only part of it. We have to remember why youths from different races joined the reformasi movement in 1998. They did not do it because of PAS, or PRM or Keadilan for that matter but they did it because they wanted reforms," he said.

He said Keadilan supporters must realise that they exist because of the desire to reform the country and to achieve this, the people's political mind-set must be changed.

"We have to change the people's political mind-set which is racial to one of principle We have gone through so many elections where people go to the polls due to the fear factor. The Malays fear that their special rights will be taken away while the Chinese fear riots.

"Such fears had undermined other bigger concerns like fighting against corruption and abuse of power. In the end, the people continue to vote for corrupt leaders simply because they believe it would protect their race. How long do we have to continue like this," he said.

He said if his main concern were the people's votes, he would not have expose the documents revealing corrupt ministers and risked being charged , imprisoned and subsequently disqualified from contesting in the election.

"If we limit our reformasi struggle to elections and seats, we will fail. The party itself will be lost...not because the struggle was baseless but because the members are more concerned with positions and seats. Please remember, political parties come and goes but the spirit of reformasi will forever remain," he added.