Posted on by Kit

Lingam Tape – end the rigmarole of Nazri flip-flops, lameduck Haidar Panel and Cabinet micro-managing of inquiry

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has done a triple flip-flop in four days.

On Sunday, he said that the probe into the Lingam Tape will come to a dead end if the witnesses who can verify it do not come forward to establish its authenticity.

He also assured witnesses and whistleblowers of “full government protection, including a change of identities if necessary”, declaring: “I guarantee that we will protect the sources. Trust the government to do so.”

However when he found that the Witness Protection Act or Bill which he had quoted as authority for such protection does not exist, Nazi said on Tuesday that he would present a strong case to the Cabinet to provide protection for the people behind the recording of the Lingam Tape.

He said: “The panel’s investigation will not be able to progress if the protection is not provided. We will not then be able to get to the bottom of this. The panel will be rendered useless.”

However, Nazri sang a different tune after the Cabinet meeting yesterday.

He said: “We will assist but first we have to establish what type of protection these people want.

“If it is anonymity, it can be arranged. If it is security, it can be arranged, but we have to know.”

It is most shocking that Nazri could be so ignorant that what the informants want is full immunity from any prosecution, protection from persecution and victimization from the powers-that-be and that there should be no cover-up of the Lingam Tape scandal of perversion of the course of justice with judicial appointments and judge-fixing.

Nazri said the Cabinet had decided to assist the Haidar inquiry panel investigate the Lingam Tape in whatever way it could. If the panel had difficulty getting those behind the video clip to come forward to be interviewed, it could ask for the government’s help.

“If the panel faces difficulties in concluding investigations, it could submit a report to us and we will assist in whatever way possible.”

It is outrageous that three weeks after the disclosure of the Lingam Tape, the Cabinet is still studiously avoiding the core issues of the Lingam Tape scandal on judicial misconduct and perversion with the course of justice — focusing all the attention on the authenticity of the Lingam Tape which could be established through forensic voice and tape analysis.

The inescapable conclusion is that the Cabinet is buying time until the other main character of the Lingam Tape scandal, Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Halim has retired from the highest judicial office in the land at the end of the month, hoping that the whole scandal will blow over after that.

If so, this is to the discredit of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who had pledged a clean, incorruptible, accountable and trustworthy administration four years ago.

The message Malaysians want to send to the Prime Minister and the government is: End the rigmarole of the Nazri flip-flops, lame-duck Haidar Panel and Cabinet micro-managing of Lingam Tape inquiry! Just set up the Royal Commission of Inquiry to restore a world-class judiciary, leaving the question of the authenticity of the Lingam Tape to be handled by the Royal Commission.

It is late but not too late for the three members of the Haidar Panel to salvage their reputation by resigning and disbanding the Inquiry Panel, which is headed for an ignominous end in the annals of inquiries in Malaysian history.

41 Replies to “Lingam Tape – end the rigmarole of Nazri flip-flops, lameduck Haidar Panel and Cabinet micro-managing of inquiry”

  3. Apa nak dikato…..inikan Bolehland…..flip flop any which way to avoid getting to the truth. Notice how hard the Cabinet is trying to conceal the truth. Hoi! for heaven sake this is a holy month…What value is all this flip flopping for…. They go break the fast… say a prayer gather some people and start lying…blame the opposition or brand anybody who seek the truth as opposition. Look at PDRM summoning the BAR members to have statement taken for the historic march from the not so true Palace of Justice to PM’s office. Would they also l Khairy & those who organised the protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy.. Of course not! Why? because he can..he represent Pa Lah. We have allowed the rot for so long.. the truth has been concealed..Mind you none of the Cabinet members know what it means to be honest…however they preach to others to be honest.. My friend Nazri, Zam and all the Cabinet including Badawi & Najib… God only defends those who are truthful…even if it means that your life is at stake defend the truth. Somebody wise once said if you live on the truth you do not need a good memory…

  5. PM’s most likely response to Malaysians: Let’s forget about Lingam Tape for the moment. Enjoy Hari Raya Puasa and be happy and proud that we have a Malaysian up in the sky. After that, we will continue to shoot the messengers.

  7. A RCI is a nightmare to Lingam, Fairuz and many others in the Palace of Justice who have been connected to the fixing of justice.They know very well that a RCI will reveal the truth.These people are afraid of the truth. Just like thiefs are afraid of light, they love to operate in darkness.

  9. [He (Nazri) also assured witnesses and whistleblowers of “full government protection, including a change of identities if necessary”, declaring: “I guarantee that we will protect the sources. Trust the government to do so.”]
    ==============================================

    Well, can anyone trust the government after what happened to the first whistleblower Syed Ahmad Idid, the High Court judge?

    As Jonah said in the article, Malaysia’s Great Law Pretenders, http://broadsidemalaysia.wo…, the present judicial scandal parallels the one in 1996. Instead of investigating those implicated in the judiciary, the government at that time were investigating whether the 112 charges in the poison pen letter were true and they wanted to know who was the whistleblower. Syed Ahmad Idid finally admitted that he was the whistleblower. What happened? He was castigated, forced to resign, called a liar, because the police and ACA said there were no truth in his allegations. The judges including CJ Eusoff Chin were cleared of Syed Ahmad’s allegations.

    So, what is going to make the present scandal any different?

    As Jonah pointed out, the lawyers, in particular the Bar Council, have to be blamed. As one lawyer questioned in her comment on the Malaysian Bar website: “Are lawyers really standing up for Justice?” All the “hoo ha” so far is all for show and for nothing. If the BC is serious in wanting a cleanup of the judiciary, it should immediately convene an EGM and,

    1) demand that the CJ and the judges implicated resign immediately;

    2) demand that the PM set up a tribunal to impeach the CJ and the judges if they do not resign;

    3) get the Disciplinary Board to issue a show cause letter to Lingam giving him seven days to show cause why he should not be disbarred;

    4) demand that the next CJ must be a person of impeccable character;

    Why has the BC not done this? Why has the DB not done anything yet?

    Our local news media and the majority of our bloggers have not highlighted this. The local news media are more interested in supporting the government. The bloggers are more interested in running down the government.

    Come on, the BC is at fault. Lawyers have themselves to blame if they remain the silent majority and allow the BC to play its game of hyprocisy. We all know why, don’t we? Every lawyer out there would like to be in Lingam’s or Zaki’s shoes: powerful and filthy rich. Many of them still have mouth gapping at the RM12 million fee that Perwaja Steel paid Lingam for being its legal adviser. The PM with his multi-billion ringgit grandiose investment development projects can dish out rich conveyaning work to lawyers. Every one knows this. So, nobody wants to get on the wrong side of the PM — except a few, like you Mr Lim, who openly oppose the government in politics and human rights activities.

    Salam,

  11. Nazri, this guy is one of the half past six BN member, nak cakap dia bodoh, tapi dia mentri, nal cakap dia pandai tapi bodoh, dia cakap kita pusing, kita cakap dia pusing…..inilah orang yang kau orang undi, masuk parlimen satu Malaysia dia pusing.

  12. Believe me. Those guys are playing for time. They would want to dealay as long as possible and finally leads us to Lingam-fatigue.
    Then this case will be forgotten.
    Just to establish the authenticity it takes 1 month. American takes a few hours to authentricate Osama BinLaden recording and here we take 30 days. Worse still the members entrusted to do it are ‘dinosours’. They are has been and not technologically inclined.
    Final answer: Recording DOCTORED. Therefore NO CASE!!!

  13. Malaysiakini’s Beh Lih Yi goes one-on-one with Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister in the PM’s Department and de facto law minister.
    malaysiakini.tv
    —–

    From this one on one interview, one can easily read into the mindset of the de facto law minister, who speaks with full authority on behalf of the government ( or is it the mindset of the government?) -The tape was produced by some unhappy parties to discredit the judiciary system. These parties also includes the Bar council because they were not happy about the sacking of the CJ whom they like back in the 80’s and so now this video is just an excuse for them to get rid of the current CJ whom they don’t like. So, there is no crisis at all. So, he won’t allow any system change.

    So folks, its a rather different picture they are painting to the general public. Since they control all the public media, their version of the explanation to the video clip will be accepted by the majority of the people.(That was why he said you all are by a drop in the ocean!)

    When will this “tai chi” session end? Our nation is moving backward to the 19th century China the ‘war lords’ era and Patrick Teoh would have his final one word comment…

  15. I notice that cosmetic surgery was no longer on the table following the cabinet meeting. I guess all the BN thieves are reserving this benefit for themselves, for the day when they have to held accountable to the people.

  17. Uncle Lim, it is blatantly clear by now the government is never interested to find out the truth. The government is only interested to hide the truth through the Penal. What is so difficult to establish the authenticity of the tape? Just send the tape to the FBI or CIA. Didn’t they establish the authenticity of Osama’s tape all the time?

    Looking at this scandal as in many other cases that happened, I still want to ask the basic question. Other than that one time walking in the Boulevard in Putrajaya where we probably saw more FRU than protesters, what else have we got to show our disgust? Why are we showing so much tolerant? Are we really that tolerant? Many countries in ASEAN have expressed revulsion on what is going on in Myanmar. Yes revulsion was the word used. I think if we strip each ASEAN nation naked, everyone is Myanmar!

  18. How about we have a half-time on this issue and resume after the Raya holidays?

    Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya to those celebrating and lets have a safe Raya with our families. Drive home safely during the holidays.

  20. It would appear that all pleas for the application of common sense and competency in the government are being stonewalled.

    It’s just a matter of time before the rest of the civilized world label Bolehland as a despotic government not to mention taking on the dynastic inclination.

    Perhaps they are styling themselves as the bodowi version of the island south, say the Ape gets to become PM round 40s his son will be ready next… and so on.

    Anyway if that dumb Nazi can talk about witness protection, he should provide the options to potential witnesses in the Mongolian trial maybe then it will go somewhere instead of languishing like a headless chicken with predetermined and predictable results.

  21. I have always believed that no real ‘change’ will come unless we are prepared to do what is necessary i.e. galvanize public support behind a core of public issues. This is one.

    Malaysians irrespective of race and religion could identify themselves with an issue like this one. In fact the major players here are from all three races.

    Talk about a Royal Commission of Inquiry serves no purpose as there is no political will to seek the truth and to introduce reforms where reforms are needed.

    Since the lawyers’ march in protest, I believe we have lost the momentum, lost the initiative. Now the initiative is with the BN run government. They dictate the terms and they dictate the speed etc. Malaysians have lost yet another opportunity.

  22. Their inaction speaks volumes. It means that the tape is true and that they have no other way of being seen to do something. So they divert attention to other matters such as the tape’s authenticity and other matters. Diversion, digression, delaying tactics all dirty D words so that the rakyat forget. And trust me, the rakyat will forget and vote BN back into power yet again!

  23. “Just set up the Royal Commission of Inquiry to restore a world-class judiciary…” Kit

    Kit, gimmee a break! As a Malaysian who lives abroad, I find reading the words ‘first class’ and ‘Malaysian judiciary or judicial system’ in the same sentence laughable.

    Could we have a judiciary that is independent before striving for anything like ‘world class’? Could we have a police force that functions like a police force before we could strive for class? Could we have the return to the rule of law before we could think about producing lawyers who are able to compete with the best and brightest?

    Could we have our sanity returned to us? This is insane!!

  24. YB,

    You’re playing Nazri’s game! It is not unlike a game of chess.

    It is clear to all right-thinking Malaysians of whatever political affiliations that this man has no integrity. Zilch! Not even to his supporters.

    Anwar supplied the chess board, Lingam the pieces and you have chosen the opening for the game. But Nazri has control of the middle game and the end game. His intention is to force a stalemate – the most he could hope for. He survives the round and continues to ready himself for the next round!

    UMNO is giving an exhibition chess – simultaneous games are being played. The other game is being fought in the high court.

    Any novice in the game of chess could tell how both games will end.

  26. The govt is sure pussy footing around. Why spend time on the messenger. Look at the message… Look at all the names mentioned …did Ahmad Fairuz not overtake every one withing a period of 9 months to become CJ…what is his qualifications …

    Look at where it landed Justice Syed Idid for speaking the truth …nobody was interested in his 112 points of corruption…AG clears the judiciary of any corruption…& he forced to resign. Unfortunately nobody went to his defence..he tried but failed..the corrupt went on with their lives..Look at the cases decided in favour of Vincent and who defended VK Lingam.

    Look at the police officers who are being charged in court for tampering with witness statements..weren’t they the whistle blowers… what changed..The govt does not want the truth to be revealed. So Badawi weren’t the police officers working with you in your quest towards a corrupt free Malaysia. As a start they were trying to expose the corrupt in PDRM.

    Oh! Pa Lah we are not going to be swayed with you sugar coated tales…’Work with me not Work for me’….. You are so transparent….yes you have paid to get a man to space but is there anything in the 6″ of space between your ears. Do you have any faith in justice…You know the country has gone to the dogs..Your little Napoleans who you referred to are all out to play and are showing you who is the boss..Ops! if you taught it was you think again…

  27. Thus far only Nazri is seen mouthing his flip-flop statements in the media. There is none other member of BN saying words of wisdom in this scandal involving the top judiciary personnel in this country. What a shame!

  28. Some years back a few penang port commission employees made /lodged a complaint to ACA or BPR then. The outcome was fantastic ..whereby PPC came to know who made the report and the content. Pity the fellows they were even demoted/punished..Thank you Nazri .The public knows the background of all this drama.

  29. This Lingam chap, does he have a lingam? Jantan ke?

    Whether he has a lingam or whether he is jantan, so many people are working to cover up the matter. My, he must be a powderful lingam without a lingam.

  30. something different, out of topic, but from the mouth of Lee Kuan Yew MM

    MM: S’pore ‘happy’ to go back to M’sia if …

    SOME 10 years after he publicly broached the idea of a Singapore-Malaysia reunion — to raised eyebrows all around — Minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew has spoken about the topic once again.
    In a recent interview with American journalist Tom Plate, Mr Lee said Singapore would be “happy” to go back to Malaysia should the latter practise meritocracy.

    Yesterday, transcripts of the wide-ranging interview — conducted last month in Mr Lee’s office — were made available online by UCLA Asia Institute.
    When Mr Plate asked Mr Lee who he thought would “come after” Singapore, the Minister Mentor said: “We are a standing indictment
    of all the things that they (Malaysia) can be doing differently …

    “If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better
    than us and we would be happy to rejoin them.”

    The last time Mr Lee floated the idea in 1996, it caused ripples on both sides of the Causeway, with then- Malaysian Prime Minister
    Mahathir Mohamad replying that he did not think “it is time yet”.
    While much has changed since then, scepticism towards
    a reunion remains.
    Said Dr Ooi Kee Beng, an Institute of South-east Asian Studies (Iseas) fellow:
    “The chances of a re-merger in 1996 and in 2007 are the
    same — Zero.”
    While bilateral economic links would continue to increase, Malaysia is far from ditching its decades-old bumiputera policy, “where racebased affirmative action … has disqualified efficacy as
    the criterion for policy correctness”, Dr Ooi added.
    In Parliament, Opposition leader Chiam See Tong
    is often a lone, but persistent, voice on the issue of an
    economic union with Malaysia, espousing the benefits of a common market.
    Mr Chiam told TODAY: “A political union is out of the question. The Malaysians will never agree.”
    Dr Ooi added: “The very idea of a re-merger on Singapore’s
    terms is appalling to most Malays (in Malaysia) and any move in that direction would be political suicide for a Malaysian politician to take.”

    Iseas’ Dr Terence Chong believes that Mr Lee had in mind the future — “50 to 100 years down the road” — when he talked about
    rejoining Malaysia. Said Dr Chong: “If you look at historic port cities, they all enjoy their golden eras and then decline. For Singapore to flourish in perpetuity would mean defying history.”
    Already, Singapore is facing a fight to keep the very talent it
    had successfully attracted.

    Mr Lee acknowledged in the interview that the Chinese students
    on Singapore Government scholarships were using the Republic
    as a stepping-stone. Said Mr Lee: “They come in here, they get an English education … and they’re off to America.
    The Indians, strangely enough, more of them stay here in Singapore
    because they want to go home to visit their families.”
    Mr Lee added: “We are net gainers for how long? I think in the
    case of China, maybe another 20,30 years … India, maybe longer
    – 50, 60 years before their infrastructure catches up. Anyway, this
    is not my worry anymore!”

    … Well, they left out another group, Malaysians ….

  31. kanthanboy Says:

    October 11th, 2007 at 14: 38.10
    A RCI is a nightmare to Lingam, Fairuz and many others in the Palace of Justice who have been connected to the fixing of justice.They know very well that a RCI will reveal the truth.These people are afraid of the truth. Just like thiefs are afraid of light, they love to operate in darkness.

    ——————–

    Can I take what you say to mean that the Lim Guan Eng case was also fixed? Can it be fixed when DAP chairman Karpal Singh was defence counsel and watching them. Remember, Karpal was not in a wheelchair then.

  32. OK guys, time for Lingam jokes. Here goes one.

    A biker walks into a yuppie bar and shouts, “All lawyers are assholes!” He looks around, obviously hoping for a challenge.

    Finally a guy comes up to him, taps him on the shoulder, and says, “Take that back.”

    The biker says, “Why? Are you a lawyer?”
    “No, I’m an asshole.”

  33. Tulip Crescent Says:

    Can I take what you say to mean that the Lim Guan Eng case was also fixed? Can it be fixed when DAP chairman Karpal Singh was defence counsel and watching them. Remember, Karpal was not in a wheelchair then.
    _____________________________________________________
    I don’t have hard evidence to show that Lim Guan Eng case was fixed. Only a RCI can provide the evidence. I believe that LGE case itself was evidence of selective prosecution. I agree with Amnesty International that LGE was a prisoner of conscience. What’s the difference whether Karpal Singh or a QC was the defence counsel? Are you so naïve to believe that a case can not be fixed if you have a good defence councel? In the court of Boleh Hands everything is possible Don’t forget Karpal Singh was also the defence counsel for Anwar. What about Wee Choo Keong case?.

  34. …..What’s the difference whether Karpal Singh or a QC was the defence counsel?….
    I forgot the following:

    Defence counsel doesn’t write judgement. Only the infamous “corect, correct, correct” lawyer has the privilege to write judgement.

  35. Just read that ACA ( acronym NOT for “aku cuma acah”) or BPR (NOT for “badan penyokong rasuah”) cannot proceed with the investigation because the tape is not original.

    Hello kawan, zaman pakai filem dah overlah… Now all digital. Like that means none of my pictures can win competiton because they immediately transferred to hard drive.

    Anyway, why during Namewee video clip they didn’t ask for the orginal video?

    How about nurin’s case? Did FBI said we only would enhance the original?

    And did the police started to act only after receiving the original pictures of the flag burners?

    A country with corrupt judicaiary is as good as a country heading to anarchy. Please put a stop to it. It is our children the one will be affected.

  36. There are more to what we know today.
    The entire network of the national scam have been taken too much pressure to dressup for parade along.
    All these #%&*$$gates are merely a few that wasn’t properly tighthen up during the dressup process as we all know human do make mistakes.
    As for NA, this guy have given up his roots and living values for the greed in being with the ELITE group. His desire to gain power and wealth have virtually taken over his personal life and that he have transformed into the ‘working, running and talking tools’ for the ELITE group. He knew that he have no choice otherwise someone else will taken up his seat.
    As a claimed Malay with the right practices in faith, this guy is a sore loser after all.
    What he failed to understand here may cause the entire Malay race to suffer in future as no unity can be bonded among them.
    Most of them are living in a short term dream world that doesn’t exist.
    We can’t do much as the best government for SEA have done what matters most to gained control of this country.
    Enjoy our journey here as part of the written script of the movie.
    Don’t worry as things will soon be over before we all knew it’s gone.

  37. Nixon should had followed Dollah’s style of investigating the whistle-blowers, and not the scandal. The two reporters from the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, should had been ordered to reveal the real identity their mysterious informant, Deep Throat or risk being fined and jailed. The Senate should never be allowed to establish a Committee to investigate the Watergate scandal. Instead, a 3-man panel set up by Nixon should be manipulated to clear him of any wrong doing.
    http://www.watergate.info/

  38. What relevance is it their ulterior motive for delaying the RCI is? The fact of the matter is the ‘independent’ panel cannot do the required job. 2,000 learned lawyers know better than anyone else what is needed. Anyone with the arrogance to believe they are better and smarter than our entire fraternities of lawyers is itself unfit to make the decision.

    Its quite clear its a failure of leadership and not just symptomatic. Its systematic and inherent. Its quite clear our PM has little real political courage and ideas about systematic demands. Its why his grand plans are largely publicity and not much that is good comes out from his ideas but a reliance on systems and resources already put in placed long time ago. Which in implies no real drastic change of any kind or real changes that the masses can benefit anytime soon.

    He is proving his original critics right about him which means that his son-in-law ambition to be the next PM is not all that outlandish. It would be disastrous entrenching the elected Sultanate system even further.

  41. TO THE PERSON(S) WHO BLEW THIS WIDE OPEN – YOU ARE AN EXAMPLE TO ALL. TO ALL OTHERS WHO ARE GOING TO BLOW OPEN CORRUPTION IN THE GOVT DEPT. KEEP POSTING IT IN THE WEBSITE SUCH AS YOUTUBE. KEEP THEM COMING AND KEEP BLOWING. NEVER LET THE GOVT KNOW WHO YOU ARE. YOU WILL NEVER BE PROTECTED AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE DESTROYED AND YOUR INFORMATION WILL CLASSED AS UNTRUE. SO, YOU MIGHT AS WELL KEEP YOUR ID SAFE AND BE CALLED UNTRUE AND A COWARD BUT ATLEAST WE ARE GETTING TO KNOW THESE CORRUPT OFFICIALS BETTER. AFTER ALL, IF IT IS POSTED ON OVERSEA WEBSITE AND THEY MAKE TOO MUCH NOISE, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA MIGHT PICK UP THE STORY ON WHY MALAYSIAN GOVT IS TRYING TO HIDE CORRUPTION. AFTER ALL, WESTERN MEDIA LOVES A GOOD SCANDAL.

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