18 Aug. 2010 – The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), very tragically, “committed suicide” today. It killed the very little that was left of its own integrity and credibility.Its public image plunged to the very depths with the help of its advocate Abdul Razak Musa. He had at first advocated self-strangulation. He even demonstrated how it could be done. When that failed, the very experienced lawyer of 24 years assisted the Commission to take a wild leap out of the window of logic, common sense and civility.

Depressed

Many have observed that the MACC has been very depressed of late. It has gone through bouts of disappointment, doubts, dejection and denial, all contributing to its sudden self-destruction. The last (first) MACC chief even jumped ship a few months before his due retirement date. It seems he could no longer handle the daunting (more appropriately read as “haunting”) task.

It appears that the MACC has left behind a suicide note which was supposedly written by its eight-month old new chief Abu Kassim Mohammed. The contents need to be verified of course. It reads: “Things have been bad for us – bad public perception, bad press, bad publicity, and as though these were not bad enough, we have done badly in the courts with most of the big fish being acquitted! “I have asked for a year to convince the rakyat of our commitment to combat and curb corruption but the public is still so very critical, cynical and condemning of the MACC.

“The public misunderstands us, press mistreats us, alternative media highlights only our mistakes, Opposition mocks us and Government makes use of us but we are very independent. “I even told the Cabinet that its members should declare their assets publicly. But they asked me to take my proposal and shelve and shove it…in one of my many cabinets.

“On Teoh Beng Hock’s death anniversary I said we will act without fear, favour and farce. But it has been a flop and many flip-flops. We have lost face even after launching our Facebook page. It is very frustrating! “It has been a long, lonely and losing battle. And now our learned legal department head has determinedly driven the last nail into our coffin and we have very dutifully dug our own grave!” It seems that the MACC, due to its synergy with Umno, sent a “Solidarity in Suicide” invitation to the party. They declined, for they have received a similar earlier invitation from Perkasa.

Discredit

The events that led to MACC’s “suicide” began during the cross-examination of the world-renowed Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand by Abdul Razak in the Teoh Beng Hock’s Inquest. He first attacked Pornthip on her qualifications and claimed that the MACC’s expert witness, Peter Vanezis, was “far more qualified” than her...as he had “graduated from Bristol University”.

He added that Mahidol University, where she had graduated from, was not recognised in Malaysia. Understandably, he was rather silent on where he graduated from, its ranking and whether it was recognised anywhere on the face of the earth. Pornthip advised the antagonistic lawyer not to look down on Asians and retorted that Mahidol is ranked the 220th best university in the world and is Thailand's top-ranked university.

Abdul Razak also accused her of being biased, and as an expert witness engaged by the Selangor State Government, she had come to Bolehland “to attack the MACC”. She stopped him dead in his tracks: "You have to understand. I work for the rights of the dead, not the Selangor government. My objective is to help the dead!" It is hoped that the "dead clients” of Pornthip (who has offered her services on a pro bono basis in Teoh’s case) will not take offence and haunt the MACC lawyer who after all appears brain-dead!

It was perhaps the first time in her 25 years as a pathologist that Pornthip was meeting such a pathetic lawyer. She therefore could not resist asking Abdul Razak: “Are you really a lawyer?” Abdul Razak charged that Pornthip kept changing her position and “the goalpost”. He forgot or got pretty mixed up that such a privileged role and position belonged solely to the Attorney-General with the ball always in his court(s).

He absurdly insisted that her expert opinion was based on her imagination. He would later prove that he was even much more imaginative than her by demonstrating the art of self-strangulation.

Demonstration

When Pornthip maintained that Teoh did not commit suicide – a view which would definitely not sit well with the MACC, Abdul Razak became a spontaneous stand-up comedian! He suggested that Teoh ‘strangled himself’ and was ‘depressive’. It was a line which he desperately copied from Dr M who had said that Anwar gave himself a black eye when in prison!

The MACC lawyer decided to give a practical demonstration on himself, after being challenged by Gobind Singh Deo, the lawyer for Teoh’s family, to show how one can strangle himself. Everyone in court was highly entertained, though some may have wished Abdul Razak had succeeded in his demonstration! Pornthip’s “clients” must have surely laughed out loud in their graves!

But the MACC’s prosecutor’s court antics were not over yet. He would provide more ammunition to the MACC to shoot itself. He asked Pornthip if she has any experience jumping off a building!

The cool, calm and composed counsel for the Selangor Government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, countered with classic sarcasm: “With questions like these, we would all want to jump off a building!” Pornthip sensed she had so far seen only the tip of the lawyer’s incompetence. He eventually became so confused that even the Bar Council representatives and coroner had to help clarify and correct him.

Despair

Abdul Razak was in court not to help the coroner determine the real cause of Teoh’s death but to denigrate Pornthip and to distract and divert everyone from the truth. He ended up destroying his own client’s integrity and credibility! In trying to discredit “the most trusted individual in all of Thailand” (according to a Readers’ Digest Trust survey last year) he has driven the MACC into utter despair in its desperate attempts to restore public confidence!

The law, we are often told. is an ass. But it would be more accurate to say in this context that the lawyer (for the MACC) is an ass and being holed up in the commission, he has turned asinine, arrogant, absurd and abusive. But why should we be surprised. He is after all the very same lawyer who told wheechair-bound Karpal Singh, the lead lawyer for the Teoh family in the Inquest: "I can sit but you cannot stand"!

But Abdul Razak has the making of a judge in the appellate courts, where, in the words of the very respected retired judge N H Chan, sit a bunch of “ignorant”, “inane”, “incompetent” and “idiotic” judges.

As the hearing ended, Gobind Singh Deo was overheard whispering to himself: “Deo Gratias!” (“Thanks be to God!”). He was indeed grateful to God for Abdul Razak Musa and his sterling role in assisting the MACC "commit suicide"!

(23 August 2010)