Royal Commission of Pondans?

I actually wanted to title this the Royal Commission of something else but with all the fart jokes stinking up the Lingam Video inquiry it is perhaps apt to link the conduct of the Royal Commissioners with unmanly behaviour. They are sissies, maybe even bordering on cowardice.

A Blogger who writes on this site explained to me in detail that during his rule, time was Dr Mahathir’s greatest friend. Through all the crises, economic downturns, general elections and recalcitrant foreign leaders time was always on his side. There is no shortage of time available if you want to postpone something. There is only a shortage of time when you want to do things in a hurry. Dr Mahathir was able to use time to do both ie to get things done in a super hurry and to postpone pesky problems to another day.

But when he postponed a party election, a General Election or sparred with the Keatings, Gores and Soros of this world he treated any extra time he got like the precious commodity that it was. Dr Mahathir was known to burn up candles working hard at his job. No PM before or since worked as hard as Dr Mahathir. And he also knew what to do if he had any extra time.

And today after his retirement even some of the Opposition has rallied around Dr Mahathir. Time has always favoured him. Even personally – a ripe old age, relatively robust health and good fitness have served him well. He also outlived them all.

But the same is not the case for Abdullah Badawi. Badawi does not have a clue about what to do to run the country. He gets nervous when he has to make a decision or read a brief. That is why he keeps leaving the country to go overseas. He does not have to work or worry about anything important or serious when he is overseas. Whether it is loafing around Perth in Australia, sleeping on someone’s boat, sleeping on board the plane or sleeping at the Davos Economic Forum it all means the same thing : he does not have to work.

He just postpones matters without using the extra time to find solutions. So problems do not go away. When they come around again, Abdullah Badawi goes away overseas.

When he tries to do something it always backfires. Without thinking Badawi dispatched the MCA Minister to China to apologise to the Chinese Government for the ‘poor treatment’ of a Chinese girl by the Police. Firstly asking women to do naked squats is procedure and physical examination to find hidden objects. The offense took place when some idiot video taped the girl and showed it to everyone. But the PM looked the idiot again when it was found out the girl was a local Malay lass and not even Chinese. The Malaysian Government was made to look totally stupid.

Obviously the PM was set up by his own Police, of which he is the Minister. They knew the Malay identity of the girl all along but they kept it from the PM. It was possibly a “teh tarik” bet among some Senior Police Officers to see just how big a fool they could make of the PM. More than anyone else, the Police know just how sleepy the PM can be. He does not know what to do.

Now in similar fashion the sleepy PM has appointed a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into the Lingam Video recording. Again he has done this without thinking. Promising transparency and ‘lets get to the bottom of this’ the PM and whoever are his advisors thought they could gain voters confidence by dredging up dirt from the Mahathir era and exposing it in open court hearing. They even put Dr Mahathir on the witness list and called Dr Mahathir to the witness stand. But as the CNN broadcast of the event showed, Dr Mahathir gave a good accounting of himself. When he walked in, everyone stood up, including the judges. As one Mahathir critic said Dr Mahathir came across quite clearly that he exercised his authority as the Prime Minister and he was not answerable to anyone for his actions. In the appointment of judges, he said he listened to his officers, the Police, dinner guests or anyone else. But the final decision was his alone. The Royal Commission then thanked him and he went home for tea. And that was the end of that.

But here is an almost unbelievable news headline from today’s Star:

January 26 2008

Hearings in camera so that only relevant testimony is allowed

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Datuk V.K. Lingam video clip will not be “that open anymore” to prevent baseless and wild allegations from making way into the news. “It’s not going to be that open anymore, like previously. It’s not nice for the news to come out first and then only it is (evidence) decided whether it is relevant to the terms of reference of the inquiry,” commission secretary Datuk Abdullah Sani Ab Hamid said. “The commission must determine first the questions to be asked so that unrelated matters are not brought up.” The commission wanted to make sure that allegations that had nothing to do with the video clip would not be included as evidence, he said after the panel heard submissions behind closed-door proceedings yesterday. Earlier, the Royal Commission heard in camera arguments on whether Lingam’s brother and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should be called to testify on the alleged closeness between the lawyer and judges. The commission stopped the press and public from attending the morning and afternoon sessions yesterday as lawyers for the two proposed witnesses had indicated they would be touching on certain personalities in the course of their submissions.

So they are afraid of Anwar Ibrahim! They do not want to give Anwar Ibrahim a platform from which he can preach to the gallery. But Anwar Ibrahim is the person who exposed this Lingam Video clip which resulted in the formation of this Royal Inquiry. Anwar Ibrahim is also number four on the list of 16 witnesses to be called by this Royal Commission. Surely the public wants to hear what he has to say. But it has been two weeks now and about a dozen witnesses have been called but Anwar Ibrahim has been passed over. Apa pasal takut sangat kat Anwar Ibrahim?

Earlier Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor had said “Show your face today and speak under oath.” Now Tan Sri Haidar will say ‘Show your face and lets whisper behind closed doors. Don’t worry we will close the doors to the press and the public’.

The reason is simple. Just like the case of the naked woman in the Police lock up, this Royal Commission is becoming more an embarrassment for Abdullah Badawi than for Dr Mahathir or Anwar Ibrahim. As a result the political masters are now interfering and calling the shots. The Royal Commission has lost its transparency and its independence. The man who is calling the shots now is Badawi’s agent planted to supervise this Royal Commission. Who is he? Lets read the Star again :

“It’s not going to be that open anymore, like previously. It’s not nice for the news to come out first and then only it is (evidence) decided whether it is relevant to the terms of reference of the inquiry,” commission secretary Datuk Abdullah Sani Ab Hamid said. The commission must determine first the questions to be asked so that unrelated matters are not brought up.”

So now Datuk Abdullah Sani is telling the judges of the Royal Commission they just cannot be transparent anymore. Not just Anwar Ibrahim but others also want to connect the former Yang Di Pertuan Agong, the former Chief Judge Fairuz and God knows how many other issues to this Royal Inquiry. What a can of worms. So this Royal Commission of Bravehearts and Defenders of Truth has become a Royal Commission of Pondans.

Apart from Haidar, the other commission members are retired Court of

Appeal judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former solicitor-general Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Malaysian Human Rights Commission commissioner and Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim. If they want to uphold real principles they should just resign. But this is Malaysia. Cari makan comes first.

So the longer this ‘Royal Commission’ charade goes on, it will make Badawi look even worse. But lets focus folks. Lets cut the crap and get to the point. We all want to know ‘Did Lingam use undue influence to get Dr Mahathir to appoint judges?’. This is where ultimately the Royal Commission cannot arrive at any earth shaking conclusion.

Yes it was Lingam speaking on the phone. But who was he talking to? Fairuz says it was not him. Lingam said he was not talking to Fairuz. The ACA says they could not trace Lingam’s phone or even his phone number. So where is the evidence that Lingam was talking to Fairuz?

But even if Lingam and Fairuz confess that they were talking to each other so what? The Royal Commission must prove that Dr Mahathir listened to these two clowns in the appointment of judges. Dr Mahathir has said that in the appointment of judges, Sultans, choosing the King, picking the MPs, appointing Cabinet Ministers etc he listens to Lingam, Mutu, Christopher, Siti Nurhaliza, Wong, Hussein, Melissa, Sue, Hamidah, Khatijah, Mak Jah, Lebai Omar and that tall mamak fellow. But ultimately he makes his own decision in anything.

So what exactly is this Royal Commission trying to achieve? Kalau nak malukan Tun Dr Mahathir, well he has already come and gone. Tak kena apa pun. Now it is the Royal Commision that is running and hiding behind closed doors. And they are not going to achieve anything either. Why don’t they just pack up and go home. Buang karan, buang air dan buang masa saja.