"OH! What torment such a little knowledge can wreak," writes Pramoedya Ananta Toer. A
                       spuriously elevated arsenic level was used by the ill-informed and malicious-minded to poison the
                       political climate, incite our youths to riot and torment the nation.

                       Why was the test done in the first place? If, as asserted by Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
                       that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was anaemic and losing weight, my first thought as a physician
                       would be an occult bleeding ulcer from the stress, and then an infectious or parasitic process.

                       Malaysian jails are not the most sanitary. Arsenic poisoning would be the very last. Yet we have
                       Wan Azizah, a non-practising doctor, thinking of it right away. Perhaps she is a more astute
                       clinician than I credit her to be.

                       Then there was the timing. As recounted by Wan Azizah, the test was done on Aug 26 but she
                       did not get the "critical" results until Sept 9. The delay could have cost Anwar's life.

                       Perhaps the Australians felt that Asian lives are cheap, not worth the expense of a long-distance
                       phone call or fax. Was it coincidental that the report was released just before the Apec and
                       Commonwealth Law meetings?

                       For sheer ineptness, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia stands alone. The court ordered
                       Anwar warded for suspected lethal poisoning. Yet, it was 10 days before HUKM declared
                       blandly that he was well. A few days later came another confusing statement, but still evading the
                       uppermost question: Was Anwar poisoned?

                       The hospital should be able to tell within minutes Anwar's blood, kidney and liver (organs known
                       to be affected by arsenic) functions, and whether it had started treatment and, if not, why. Had it
                       been more forthcoming, the ensuing riots might have been prevented and many an innocent life
                       would not have been irretrievably changed.

                       Incredibly, three weeks later Anwar was still hospitalised - to await further test results. Imagine
                       keeping a patient merely for this! Had this been an American hospital, Anwar's impressively-titled
                       doctors would be hauled up before the utilisation review committee for abuse of expensive
                       facilities.

                       Anwar could have waited in prison, thus freeing scarce hospital beds. To think that HUKM is
                       training future doctors! Such profligate behaviour, oblivious of the costs to taxpayers, is
                       unprofessional and reprehensible.

                       Now that Anwar is safe one would expect him to be jubilant and eager to share the good news
                       with his supporters. Yet we have this vociferous crusader for transparency trying very hard to
                       suppress this vital information from an anxiously waiting citizenry.

                       It is Anwar's right to think the worst of his enemies. But he owes Malaysians an apology for
                       having besmirched the nation.

                       More specifically, he owes it to those idealistic youths who went on wild rampages on the
                       mistaken belief that their leader was poisoned, and also to those innocent retailers whose
                       businesses were damaged.
 

                       M. Bakri Musa
                       California