ONE day I met with an old friend, a former activist. Lately, he has been fond of venting his frustrations and cursing the former president. He used to work as an official under the very president he was mocking.

I asked him: why are you only getting angry now? Where were you when the death penalty was carried out in cheap? When the Corruption Eradication Commission was dwarfed, when pro-democracy activists were criminalized, and various evil law