E Contrario

Abdullah Badawi announced on Friday (16 Nov) that a royal commission will be set up to investigate the rots in the judiciary.

This is indeed an interesting development. Last Thursday (15 Nov) the New Straits Times started using this phrase “Lingamgate”.

How did the PM come to the decision of appointing a royal commission remains a mystery. The story is as intrigue as the Akira Kurosawa “Rashomon“.

Last Wednesday (14 Nov), on the day of weekly cabinet meeting, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, was reported to have said: the cabinet has yet to make any decision on the report submitted by the independent panel that was tasked with verifying the authenticity of the scandalous ‘Lingam tape’. (Malaysiakini)

Nazri further claimed that the PM has appointed himself, Rais Yatim and Radzi Sheikh Ahmad to study the 3-man panel’s report. He said the reason for the selection of the 3 ministers was based on their legal background.

“The cabinet decided that the report should be given to ministers for them to have a look and to come back to the next meeting to recommend appropriate actions,” said Nazri. Further, he informed that “cabinet members have not had sight of the report yet”.

I am often not too sure in what capacity Nazri was speaking? Do I have a reason to doubt him?

Nazri’s claim coincided with the statement of the Deputy Prime Minister Najib a day earlier (Nov 13).

Najib said: “Yes (we have received it). I don’t have time to look at the report yet (but) I would assess the report in a matter of days and I would discuss with the PM on what to do.” (Bernama Nov 13)

On the same day, the PM himself said in Kuching he had not have time to read the report (Bernama Nov 13). He said: “We hope to be able to discuss it Wednesday when the report is presented before the Cabinet”.

What do all these mean? It is clear that on Wednesday (Nov 14), the cabinet made no decision. If Nazri was not lying, the Cabinet on Wednesday did not discuss the recommendations in the report by Haidar, Lee Lam Thye and Mahadev Shankar. Instead Nazri claimed that the PM appointed another 3-person Ministerial Panel to spend another week to study the above report.

2 days later (16 Nov), at the farewell function with the visiting Uruguay President, the PM suddenly revealed that a royal commission would be established (Bernama 16 Nov).

What was his decision based on? A spur of the moment, perhaps? The announcement by the PM on the royal commission came as a surprise to many. However it was certain that the 3 ministers have not read the report, and cabinet had not determined any course of action.

Nazri asserted that the Cabinet members have not read the report, at least on the day of 14 Nov.

In other words, the decision to establish the royal commission was PM’s own and I am very sure that he had neither read the report by his ministers nor by the panel.

Fair enough, the PM has the power to appoint a royal commission, without necessarily consulting his Deputy PM or the Cabinet.

As soon as the PM voiced up his stand, many loyalists immediate changed their stand from opposing to supporting the royal commission.

In the entire BN, only Gerakan openly called for a royal commission. Now MCA president Ong Kah Ting quickly declared his support for the royal commission. Before the PM’s decision, Ong and other MCA leaders did not dare to touch on the subject at all.

“The setting up of the Royal Commission is necessary as the Government has nothing to hide and is transparent. The Cabinet supported the decision after discussing it at last Wednesday’s meeting,” Ong Ka Ting said (Bernama 18 Nov).

The Cabinet supported the decision? Was the issue discussed last Wednesday?

It seems that there were two versions of Cabinet meeting last week. Ong Ka Ting must have attended a cabinet in which he recalled Abdullah decided to establish a royal commission. On the other hand, Nazri attended the same meeting, but his memory was different: no decision on royal commission was made, but 3 ministers were appointed to study the report by Haidar/Mahadev/Lee and come back to the Cabinet next Wednesday.

Which version is authentic? Maybe another 3-man panel with Anwar, Hadi and Kit Siang as members should investigate the minutes of Cabinet.

Can Ong Ka Ting explain what was discussed and decided by the Cabinet last Wednesday?