Who Gets To Say "Checkmate"?

It's like a chess game.

Except it's no longer a game, it's now survival.

For both parties, the loss means everything.

If Anwar loses, at best he can expect to spend a long time in jail. At worst, he spends a very short time there because UMNO probably won't let him live for long. He's obviously too big a political opponent.

There will be a convenient scuffle, and then a riot in the prison and next thing you know, the fake, mournful faces and the long-winded eulogies will surface. Someone will promise an investigation, which of course won't see the light of day.

But if UMNO loses, it's goodbye to the lavish lifestyles, the blatant corruption, huge mega-projects which eventually turn into white elephants. And hello to disclosure.

Hell. The amount of dirt unearthed would impress Singapore's land-reclamation experts.

A lot of people would probably see the insides of a cell. Through a perspective behind bars, that is. (Unless, of course, they manage to win the affection of the man in power. You aren't naive enough to discount that, are you?)

Which is why UMNO would do anything to get rid of Anwar.

Even at the expense of discrediting themselves, UMNO pursues Anwar Ibrahim with an enthusiasm that could kick us straight into first world status, were it redirected into nation-building.

You'd think they would be able to conjure up an allegation more plausible than sodomy.

But evidently, too much time at the golf courses, feeding their faces at buffets, and going on overseas trips have left them in a state very akin to mental retardation.

They have forgotten that at his age, Anwar Ibrahim is no longer a spry, limber goat. To accuse him of sodomising a young man at the prime of his life is laughable.

I can understand if it was consensual. But to be sodomised 8 times before filing a police report is not something I can be convinced of. And at 23, the rape would certainly not be statutory.

There have been bizarre stunts pulled. Statutory declarations filed, which may or may not mean anything at all. Private investigators gone missing. And some.

And then there have been arrests made, a manner in which even Osama bin Laden would fall unworthy of, for all his terrorist activities. But no charges.

It sure sucks, when the DNA you need to plant as evidence is not available.

Even worse, when medical reports surface; claiming there are no signs of any crime committed on a certain person who claim to be a victim.

It's indescribably awful when the deadline of 16th September looms near and The Wife decides to give up her seat.

Damn, but who gets to checkmate*?

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