Kit Siang : On the explosive video

For anyone who doubt the “truth of the statements” in the video that Keadilan released last week, I beg you to read a very calm and factually oriented article by senior opposition member Lim Kit Siang.

I liked how Kit Siang doesn’t rant and rave about the video, but very calmly point out all the facts in the video and how they link-up to what really took place before Fairuz became CJ.

Have a good day !!

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Kit Siang: It’s Fairuz at the other end (from MALAYSIAKINI)

Sep 21, 07 5:13pm

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang is convinced that senior lawyer VK Lingam was chatting with Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim in the latest video scandal to rock the nation. In a press statement today, the veteran politician listed out several reasons for this conclusion. The most obvious being that although two days have passed since the video clip was exposed, there has been pin drop silence from both Lingam and Ahmad Fairuz. “It would be the first reaction of anyone to a doctored video clip,” he said. “But Ahmad Fairuz has been in ex-communicado for the past two days, although he would have no difficulty accessing the video on the Internet.” He said the person Lingam spoke to was referred to as ‘Datuk’ and there were talks of the person getting a ‘Tan Sri-ship’ in the same year. Lim pointed out that Ahmad Fairuz was awarded the Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM) by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in June 2002, making him a Tan Sri. The video clip, revealed by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, was said to have been recorded in 2002. Lim also noted that there were references making “Datuk Heliliah, Datuk Ramli and Datuk Maroop” as judges. On Feb 8, 2002, former solicitor-general Heliliah Mohd Yusuf, former chief registrar Ramly Aliand, former commissioner of law revision Ahmad Maarop received their letters of appointment as High Court judges from the King. Their appointments were from Feb 1, 2002. There was also reference that “in three months time” the person, whom Lingam was talking to, would be made Court of Appeal president and “six months time” he was going to be chief justice. Ahmad Fairuz was sworn in as Court of Appeal president on Dec 1, 2002 and appointed chief justice on March 17, 2003. AG rapped Meanwhile, Lim also took a swipe at Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail for saying that there were no criminal elements in the video clip and that Lingam’s conversation was a ‘monologue’ in nature. Yesterday, Abdul Gani said it was unclear who the lawyer was speaking to in the eight-minute video clip. “There is no clear reference that he was talking to a top judicial officer,” he was reported as saying. Describing Abdul Gani’s comments as “outrageous”, Lim said the video clip raised important questions on the chief justice’s commitment to judicial accountability. “How can the chief legal officer of the government try to minimise the gravity of the judicial misconduct exposed by the Lingam tape and shirk off his responsibility by claiming that Lingam was in a monologue?” he asked. The video clip showed Lingam, among others, discussing Ahmad Fairuz’s appointment as chief justice of Malaya and chief justice. There was also a discussion on the appointment of ‘friendly’ senior judges. Lim also noted that Abdul Gani had not challenged the authenticity of the conversation.