The Election Commision's Wearing the Emperor's New Clothes

Photo credit: Shirley Hughes, Cambridge Book & Print Gallery.

There's a certain level of idiocy when one looks at something black and says it's white. Then there's an additional level of incredulity when one really expects everyone to swallow it whole. It brings to mind the story of the Emperor's New Clothes, except here, the emperor's not just strutting in the nude, he's trying to sell his fashion line as well.

First of all you have this Datuk Abdul Hasan Sarif, a Kedah assemblyman, who couldn't be bothered showing up for the state assembly. You're called an assemblyman - the job is to go to the assembly!

And then, on the grounds that it cost too much, the Election Commission tries, and fails, to not hold an election. You're called an election commission - the job is to commission elections!

Beyond the obvious contradictions, the real crime here is having a public institution like the Election Commission fight for a specific party, when the highest call of its duty is to be an impartial body. In a country with too many who are too jaded, or too willing to sit and back and watch, one won't hear a strong enough chorus for the resignation of the EC's clearly biased officials. Officials, who in a more robust society, in a more robust time, would be tarred and feathered by now.

Amidst all this though, some small reasons for hope. First, the high court judge who had the sense not only to rule without fear nor favour. Second, last year's elections, which showed that while some might not ride to the front lines, they don't exactly have as short memories as they used to.

In neighbouring Perak, the strategy seems to be to keep these memories refreshed. With the Election Commission's New Clothes coming after us, another reminder to keep our eyes truly open for those who would commit daylight robbery.

Too Late to Exhume Reputations of Local Pathologists

Respected pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, director-general of Thailand’s Ministry of Justices Central Institute of Forensic Science, provided medical confirmation to what seems to be in the arena of common sense to many Malaysians: that Teoh Beng Hock's death was most likely murder.

And all she had to work with were pictures reports of our local pathologists, which was enough to put a nail in the coffin of their professional reputations. The Star's report mentioned that "She added that there was a need to cut open the skin to check for internal bleeding to determine whether Teoh had been tortured. (Both the pathologists who had conducted the postmortem on Teoh had not done so.)"

The Malaysian Insider report included a further contradiction:

"She rejected the idea that the anus was penetrated by a bone fragment, which had been put forward by local pathologist, Dr Khairul Aznam Ibrahim from the Hospital Tengku Rahimah Ampuan in Klang. She reasoned that if that had happened, the force would have punctured the area opposite its entry and not as what was shown in the autopsy photos taken."

The two local pathologists - Dr Khairul and Dr Prashant Samberkar of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre - failed likewise on the level of medicine and common sense. Medically by coming to conclusions without any reasonable basis and having an incomplete autopsy, and not having the common sense to know that it would be only a matter of time before a real expert would be well able to point out the inaccuracies.

With the possibility of a second post-mortem in the air, they may be in for a second round of shame. The credibility of these pathologists, who seemed too eager to take away any possibility of MACC responsibility, seemed to smell from the start. It seems that even now, their reputations will be far too late to exhume.