Normally I don't write about politics, but this one just gets me all angry and sick after hearing it.

http://anwaribrahimblog.com/2007/09/19/video-korupsi-tun-ahmad-fairuz-dan-vk-lingam/

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim posted a video on his blog about the alleged fixing of judges by a lawyer. It was a phone conversation the lawyer having with someone on his campaign to get a judge appointed as Chief Judge.

While listening to the guy talk on the phone, I just felt so sick someone could talk so casually about something like this on the phone. Plus, who was the mystery person recording this? Must be someone close to him to be able to record it on their phone. My guess is it was done with his permission to be used as evidence later for black mail of the person on the other side of the phone. Who knows...

I've met Anwar a few times. The first time was at his brother's funeral at the TTDI grave. I was a young journalist covering it. The prison department was escorting him as he was still held in detention then. It had just rained and the ground was wet. There was a huge crowd of reporters already surrounding the grave when I arrived. As I walked up to the grave, this rotund cameraman was coming from the opposite direction. He was covered in mud up to his chest level and he was holding his beta camera. I asked him, what on earth happened. He said, he was taking shots of the funeral when he fell backwards into an open grave that was flooded. He said luckily he fell and landed on both feet and held the camera above his head. Talk about bad luck, falling into an open grave.

When I got to the crowd praying around the grave, there was heavy security guarding Anwar Ibrahim. I took a peek into the flooded grave next to us. It looked grim, something out of a zombie horror movie. It was flooded and I doubt anyone would have been able to claw his way out without help. I reminded myself to stand back as far as possible. Anyway, with all that mud around, I didn't want to ruin my shoes.

The next time I met Anwar Ibrahim was actually at a friend's wedding. He was the guest of honour. By then, his back problem had gotten pretty bad already and he couldn't move very well. I moved a chair out of the way for him and helped him down a stage. He thanked me. In my heart, I kept saying this was the man I hated all these years. This was the man I blamed for causing riots in Malaysia. Here I am helping him down a stage and he thanked me.

I used to be angry at him... sometimes I still am when I think back of the riots, the financial crisis and how it affected me in the US. I blame him for inciting the hooligans to riot and in someway causing the huge difference between the Ringgit and the Dollar. My parents had a hard time sending me money when I was studying in the US. Times were hard for everyone. What I read in The Star online only made me angrier.

Now... I'm more mellow ever since they let him out of jail. I guess time does heal some wounds. Buddha says revenge is like a piece of coal you hold in your hand waiting to trow at someone. I feel that anger is kind of like that too, you just get burned in the process. Better to let go of that anger. Hrmm... then again, if you're smart, once you let it go, you could swiftly kick it to the person's head!