There was not only relief but a sense of vindication all round that Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was released on RM20,000 personal bond without surety after he pleaded not guilty in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court this morning to the Sodomy II charge under Section 377 B of the Penal Code.

The decision of the Sessions Court judge, S.M. Komathy and the stand of the Solicitor General Datuk Idrus Harun in not opposing bail gives hope that the system of justice is not totally condemned and irredeemable if the professionals in the legal and judicial services are fully freed of political pressures and interferences to discharge their duties to uphold the rule of law and dispense justice.

The person who had come out worst from this morning’s proceedings was not in court at all – the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Only yesterday, Abdullah was again justifying the Sodomy II prosecution of Anwar on the ground of according “justice” to the accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, making many Malaysians ask why the Prime Minister has suddenly become the leading spokesman for Anwar’s Sodomy II charge when under the Constitution, the sole prosecution discretionary power is vested in the Attorney-General and not with the Prime Minister or in the Cabinet!

Abdullah made a very pertinent remark yesterday when he was asked by the media whether Saiful would also be charged for sodomy if he was a willing partner, saying:

“You better read your law. If there is rape the accused will have to face action. This is a matter for the law. But I am not lawyer and I won’t get involved. We’ll see what happens in court.”

The import of the Prime Minister’s answer is unmistakable – that Anwar would be charged with sodomy rape, i.e. an offence under Section 377C of the Penal Code which reads:

“377C. Whoever voluntarily commits carnal intercourse against the order of nature on another person without the consent, or against the will, of the other person, or by putting the other person in fear of death or hurt to the person or any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping.”.

However, Anwar was not charged under Section 377C but 377B of the Penal Code which reads:

”377B. Whoever voluntarily commits carnal intercourse against the order of nature shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping.”

As Section 377B is on consensual sodomy as compared to Section 377C on sodomy rape, Anwar had rightly responded after the charge in court this morning: “If it is consensual, why was I the only one being charged? This is a political persecution.”

Section 377B is a “medieval” charge especially when the sentence for it and Section 377C carries a common maximum of 20 years, making no distinction between consensual sodomy or sodomy rape.

But the more important question is what made Abdullah talk about “sodomy rape” in connection with Anwar’s Sodomy II charge yesterday?

This morning’s court proceedings have reinforced perceptions that Anwar’s Sodomy II prosecution is purely political in nature, and that the professionals in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, who had been reluctant and unenthusiastic in pursuing the prosecution, had been overruled by their political masters out on a political rampage against Anwar.

Anwar’s Sodomy II charge has become a new cause celebre but which is of no service to Malaysia, as on trial will not be just Anwar but the whole nation – with the integrity of the system of justice and national institutions in the dock of international opinion.

I call on Abdullah to stop political interferences and allow the professionals in the Attorney-General’s Chambers to rethink and drop the “medieval” prosecution of Anwar in the Sodomy II charge.