...bertambah mutu

Sometime past 5pm yesterday, in the very grounds where the judiciary lost its clout under a previous administration, Malaysia shed a segment of its old skin and took another step towards maturity. Well done.

Chairman of the independent commission of inquiry Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah’s gesture may be small but its significance is enormous and hopefully sets new benchmarks on transparency in this country.

Amidst growing suspicion of the actual identity of the nude ear squat victim - me included - Dzaiddin made the decision to recall the key witness all the way from Temerloh in order that those in the gallery including press folks and Bar Council observers could see for themselves that the alleged victim is indeed the actual victim.

Excerpts from the Sun:

“DPP Suhaimi Ibrahim then informed the inquiry that the clearest-possible static image taken from the video clip of the woman was being displayed on the projector. (Her breasts in the image were covered.)
The projector, which was earlier placed in front of the commission members exclusively for their viewing, was yesterday placed facing the commission members, the media, and those in the public gallery for them to compare her image in the video with her face for identification.
Suhaimi asked her: "Whose picture is being displayed?" and she said: "Mine". Dzaiddin then told her to remove her headscarf to allow Nair to look at her. Nair, who was seated behind her got up and took two steps in front and looked at her. He looked at the image on the projector for comparison and then nodded.
Suhaimi then told the woman to face the public. She did so for less than 10 seconds. The woman's face matched with the still images on the video. Nair then got up and told the panel the woman was "positively identified."

This is huge because the Chairman listened; without the cloak of egotism, he listened to the arguments of lawyer SN Nair on the need for positive identification of the alleged victim. This is huge because the Commission evaluated those points. And finally, acceding that positive identification by other independent observers was the right thing to do.

I believe I woke up to a new nation this morning. That though many issues on accountability and transparency remain and the terrain is still murky and scarred, we are moving in the right direction. And we can move collectively as satu Bangsa.

Sometime past 5pm yesterday, in the very grounds where the judiciary lost its clout under a previous administration, Malaysia shed a segment of its old skin and took another step towards maturity. It kicked aside petty issues like “power” and “lose face” and “I say it’s so, therefore it is so”.

Instead it chose to stand by truth.