“Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”’

- Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

COMMENT | One of the more galvanising images of the reformasi movement was of Anwar Ibrahim, now prime minister, black-eyed and arm raised defiantly.

Many folks who were politically apathetic flocked to the reformasi banner because the thinking was that if the state could do this to a former deputy prime minister, what would they do to the average rakyat?

Of course, the state had been doing nefarious things to the rakyat for decades, and nobody cared. This was what was so totemic about the Reformasi movement. It was a moment in time when a certain section of the voting rakyat woke up.

This was about institutional dysfunction, but more importantly, how the police were used as the thug-like extension of the political class. Anwar knew this, and his bitter statements against the political class reflected this sentiment.

In 2009...