In a move which demolished whatever pretense of judicial independence, the court suspended Anwar's trial indefinitely due to the impending general election to disallow him a platform to expose the regime's corruption and abuses. As the Anwar sentiment is still a strong among the Malays, it also serves Mahathir's purpose to keep him away from public view in the run-up to the election. The initial reason given was that judge Ariffin Jaka had backache but this immediately caused great suspicion as the general consensus was that since he has no backbone, how can he have a backache? After the elections, it was announced that his trial will resume on Jan 25, 2000.