E Contrario

I feel like we are living in the Brave New World of Aldous Huxley, or in an Orwellian 1984?

Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

–Aldous Huxley

The ACA Director-general Ahmad Said Hamdan is trying to talk tough and act tough here.

However he is not directing his punch at corrupted judges and well-connected individuals. Instead the ACA is determined to do its level best to arrest, charge and imprison any whistle blowers who try to expose wrongdoings.

Last Monday (Oct 22), the ACA delivered an ultimatum for Anwar: they insisted on a full length video clip before any inquiry would be conducted.

The talk of Ahmad Said Hamdan was deliberately misleading or utterly ignorant. There is no such thing as “original” recording in digital technology. Anyone who uses a videocam or digital camera know, pictures must be downloaded into a computer or thumbdrive or CDRom. The original would most likely be erased from the camera.

Digital copy is a clone of the original, that means it is exactly the same. If we want to know whether the images are authentic/real, a test on the copy is as good as the original.

The dispute over authenticity of the clip is a sinister way to divert from the real issue. The ACA boss said: “We believe it (the clip) has been tampered with. We cannot rely on copies. We have to look into the original clip” (Malaysiakini Oct 23).

“We believe“? What is his belief based on? Does it mean the ACA had consulted some experts who opined that the clip KeADILan submitted had been tampered?

Now the ACA said they want the original 14-minute tape. How does Ahmad Said Hamdan know that the full length of the video clip is 14 minutes?

Anwar and other witnesses informed the public that they had viewed a 14-minute clip which involved VK Lingam talking over the phone with Ahmad Fairuz.

Who know what is the exact length of the entire recording. It could be 20 minutes, half an hour or one hour? But does it matter?

The issue is that what we have seen in the clip is sufficient to warrants serious attention. Yet the government is using the ‘Independent’ Committee, ACA, and other red tapes to delay any real investigation on culprits.

In any investigation, the easiest and simplest method maybe the most effective. For a start, the public need to hear directly from Ahamd Fairuz and VK Lingam whether such conversation actually took place.

What is the motive of demanding Anwar to surrender the 14-minute tape?

To me, forgive me for mistrusting the government, once the recording is surrendered, there is no guaranteed that the evidence will not be destroyed. Further there is also no undertaking from anyone that the source would not be arrested or tortured in detention.