Politics 101 Malaysia

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip has recommended that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad be investigated under various laws for his role in the appointment of judges. MCPX

Other persons also named to face possible action are former chief justices Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Eusoff Chin, senior lawyer VK Lingam, former minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and business tycoon Vincent Tan.

In its 186-page report, the commission recommended that they be investigated under a slew of laws - Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Penal Code and obstruction of justice.

De facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim today said that the cabinet has directed the Attorney General’s Chambers to institute immediate investigations against the six. ”Continued”

(synopsis of a forth-coming book)

Books have been written about Tun Daim Zainuddin, but not many people know who the real Daim is. He is famous for being taciturn. Everyone knows that Daim is the silent type; so silent, in fact, that the victims of his scheming and conniving have fallen like ten pins without ever knowing what hit them.

He has, on the quiet, made a career of shooting poison darts, laying booby traps. and knifing friend or foe in the back. His hand is never seen, but his mark is everywhere. Truth to tell, he has been at the root of many national crises, but his name has never been smudged, thanks to the wealth he wields and his bond of friendship with Dr. Mahathir.

Most members of Umno’s new generation are aware that Daim is an acquisitive millionaire and a macho man with a taste of young women, but they concede him these weaknesses because they see in him a clean and competent Economic Adviser to the Government.

But the generation of Harun Idris, Musa Hitam and Manan Othman to name just a few of the old hands - they are the ones to ask in order to discover who the real Daim is. It was Datuk Harun who plucked Daim up from the depths of failure in the salt business. Daim’s wife, Mahani and Harun’s wife, Salmah were good friends and an influential pair in the early 1970s. It was wife power that moved Harun to give Daim 160 acres of prime Kampung Pandan land. And thus Syarikat Maluri was born. ”Continued”

A malaysiakini exclusive by Andrew Ong & Ng Ling Fong, Nov 23.

V Thirunama Karasu has no doubt that the person talking on the phone in the much publicised ‘judicial fixing’ video tape is his eldest brother, senior lawyer VK Lingam.

Speaking to Malaysiakini yesterday in an exclusive two-hour interview, Thirunama, 50, confirmed that person depicted displays his brother’s manner of speaking.

“He always says ‘correct, correct, correct… yes, yes, yes…’.,” said Thirunama (left), referring to the repetitive interjections by the person in the recorded phone conversation.

Lingam has withheld comment in relation to the video clip, only saying that he is prepared to testify before the royal commission of inquiry when it is established. ”Continued”

AsiaSentinel, Nov 1.

In a move that would almost certainly deepen the growing rift between Malaysia’s nine hereditary sultans and the government of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, it appears that Zaki Azmi, until recently the United Malays National Organisation’s chief legal advisor, may be appointed Chief Justice of Malaysia’s Supreme Court.

Malaysia’s Conference of Rulers, made up of the sultans, was meeting Thursday afternoon on the appointment, which they would have to approve. In the absence of their decision, Abdullah Badawi announced that Court of Appeal President Abdul Hamid Mohamad had been appointed acting chief justice in the interim.

In September, Zaki was hurriedly appointed a judge to the Federal Court, Malaysia’s second-highest court, without ever having served on the bench. Since the country won independence in 1963, the government has carefully avoided appointing prominent members of political parties to the bench. At the time of his appointment, Zaki told reporters he was given only 24 hours to accept. He described his decision to take the job as “national service.” It was the first time anyone had been appointed directly to the federal court without making earlier stops at the trial and appellate court levels. ”Continued”

Lee Kuan Yew seems pretty certain “an Indian lawyer” was “talking to a top judge”.

“(Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister) Anwar Ibrahim leaked a video … of an Indian lawyer talking to a top judge about how he can arrange to get him promoted to be the “Number One” or whatever. ” — Harry Lee, ChannelNewsAsia.

Commentary by Kim Quek, Oct 10.

The government’s obsession at pursuing the whistle-blowers while meticulously avoiding mention of the two principal alleged culprits – lawyer V K Lingam and present Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz – is the surest tell-tale sign that the Lingam video clip is not only authentic, but is also known to the government to be authentic.

Significantly, three full weeks after the exposure of this explosive video clip (on Sept 19) which revealed political manipulation and illicit fixing of senior judicial posts, both alleged culprits have not openly denied the serious charges, and have also steadfastly remained incommunicado and invisible to the public.

Instead of going after the alleged culprits, de-facto law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz made a desperate attempt to dig at the whistle-blowers. Quoting a non-existent “Witness Protection Act”, he went to the extreme of offering a face change through plastic surgery as the ultimate protection to lure the anonymous source behind the video to come forward to the government.

Nazri warned that “a probe into the clip will come to nothing if the whistleblower does not come forward to verify its authencity.” He added that if the witness failed to appear, “we can conclude that they are lying”. ”Continued”

It is time civil society stands up once more in unity.

There should be a concerted, united effort to boycott the three-member panel probing the authenticity of the Lingam tape because, as the panel’s terms of reference show, it’s nothing but a Ramadan busking act.

The panel cannot be said to be independent nor bipartisan because the members ,the former Chief Judge of Malaya, Haidar Mohd Noor, socialite Lee Lam Thye and Mahadev Shankar were names plucked from the air to make it ‘multiracial’ one Malay, one Chinese and one Indian act, and there was no prior consultation with NGOs or the opposition.

The government can call it whatever it wants but it’s nothing more than a quick-fix public relations exercise.

Looking at some of the names in the panel, that’s about as good as asking Dracula to guard the bloodbank.

As there’s no immunity from prosecution by cooperating with the panel, you know where you can tell them to stick it.

As an aside, if the terms of reference was to determine the authenticity of the tape, isn’t that a job for the geeks?

In the just released Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Malaysia is joint 43rd with South Korea and South Africa, out of 80 countries surveyed.

New Zealand, Finland and Denmark are in equal first place.

The report is available here, and the press pack here.

Disgraced Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz contacted the de facto Law Minister Mohd Nazri last night to ask him to issue a denial that he was the person at the end of a telephonic conversation with controversial lawyer VK Lingam to broker the appointment of judges.

Their actions have established a Executive-judiciary link conspiracy — how careless can one get? — as Mohd Nazri has no legal grounds, or business, to make statements on behalf of judges, especially a chief judge who has lost the support and confidence of the judiciary and public.

It is unlawful for the Executive to be the spokesman for a lame duck judge.

Fairuz has not been seen in public since the scandal broke out last week.