Royal Commission 2:1
Nov 20th, 2007 by Tian
The story of the three-person Investigation Panel on Lingamgate reminds me of Graeae in Greek mythology. Graeae (meaning “old women”) were three sisters who were the guardians of the secret of Gorgons. They were born grey-haired and blind. They only had one eye and one tooth that they shared between them.
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Abdullah Badawi’s announcement on the establishment of a royal commission on judiciary has generated quite a lot of excitement. It looks like a number of people will be coming out to testify as soon as the inquiry is opened.
Forgive me for being pedantic, I am still puzzled over what inspired the PM to change his mind.
While the PM’s decision is welcomed by all sectors (Malaysiakini), we should not simply ignore the reports submitted by the three-person ‘Independent Panel’.
My party comrades and I had ridiculed the three-person panel for their lack of credibility. The members of the panel themselves confessed that they actually had no power to call witnesses or examine evidence.
After a long two months of no investigation but lots of publicity, the panel finally wound up their job last month. The news report informed us that the panel made the recommendation to form the royal commission. However it is interesting to note that the panel resolved to a rather unusual format of reporting. Instead of submitting a joint report, the three members of the panel decided to write report individually and submit separately.
It is obvious that there was no consensus.
The end result, as we were told, was that 2 out of 3 supported the establishment of a royal commission.
Let me guess, who was for, and who against?
Of all the members of the panel, I trust Mahadev’s integrity the most. I have no doubt he recommended the royal commission.
Haidar had a tough job. Being the chair, he was given the thankless task to whitewash the investigation. I suspect Mahadev’s refusal to tow the line might have prompted the panel to abandon a joint report.
Here is my scenario:
With Mahadev’s dissension, Haidar agreed to allow individual reporting.
Who at the end is the one opposed to the Royal Commission? My guess is: Lee Lam Thye.
I am willing to take a bet. Let’s wait for the Cabinet to reveal the recommendation from the panel.
Although the PM has consented to the royal commission, the reports by the three members of the panel must still be made public for the sake of transparency.
Royal Commission - sounds very exciting and interesting .. at least a tiger with some teeth though it may not be all .. but is it a tiger in a cage or an ‘old’ circus tiger .. with the BN government holding the whip .. to control and make it docile .. like in the circus show of old. we dont need to revisit Greek myth … just visit the circus and we see it .. already -once mighty animals roaming the jungle- fearless being trained to do tricks for human to see .. no longer power are they .. such are human trying to show that with a proper dosage of might, whip, and maybe bullets you’ll reduce the animal to what you wish it to be. a royal commission could be that tiger .. pity the members .. who have sold their soul and unable to fight back at all.
what’s the use of the name ‘royal’ when even the royals are being given similar treatments since the time of the former PM and now this PM.. protector of malaysians irregardless of race, religion, i didn’t see that happening at all- … at all. but what i hate the most is the government’s way of handling the whole episode as if malaysians are ignorant of our rights to know- tranparency- treating the public like juveniles as if they know best- and the rakyat no nothing- just that is the case then no need to organize election- let’s have a ‘roll-over’ government akin to fixed deposits in the bank .. let it ‘roll-over’ upon maturity ! … that will be a laugh - a new concept of democracy known as ‘democracy-roll over’ no need elections .. just roll over to the next 5 yrs when the term if up .. saves money and time .. not to mention human effort.. everyone happy ..that’s malaysian democracy .. tell the whole world and i am certain political scientist around the globe would love to know more about this new concept known as ‘democracy roll over’ ..
parliament doesn’t need to sit- just to rubber stamp bills into act/legislation and we all malaysian all act stupid- no need to introduce free education as in the next year’s budget as we dont need brains to live .. the government will do that - feed us/ cloth us .. etc etc … and everyone will be happy ever after - all other countries will be envious of us. we are only to hit the kompang whenever our politicians make declarations .. and our angkasawan yet again go to space .. ISS .. and so forth .. that will be cool ! hip-hip hooray .. ! save so much on scholarships no need to send malaysian abroad maybe only selected ones .. who are pro-govt … if you’re not then just be like the rest …
that’s the new democracy roll over ! . … it only happens in BolehLand !
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I thought that the government would use the opportunity to clean up the judiciary but after reviewing the names of the panel members I must say that none of the names jump out at me as people who should lead the panel except Prof Khoo. No one knows how badly the judiciary has been effected since the blitzkrieg in 1988 not how deep the root of corruption is. There is a perception that the judiciary is tainted and the public has no confidence in the judiciary. This perception alone is justified for the govt to carry out a full investigation on the matters and the personalities that may have contributed to the decline of the image of the judiciary. Most of the members chosen to lead this inquiry are former judicial figures and they should be the last ones leading this inquiry as they may well be called to give evidence themselves. Moreover, they would have personally known the culprits who have been instrumental in the destroying the image the Malaysian judges once had. The panelist should make a conscionable decision and withdraw from the panel if they feel that they will not be able to perform the duty at hand.