If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities. – Voltaire
The Lingam Conversation.
Below is an attempt to understand the conversation (video) of one VK Lingam with another person, said to be Ahmad Fairuz, Malaysia’s Chief Justice. The attempt includes answering the question: Who is the doorkeeper?
A. THE SETTING
The video clip (released publicly by the Justice Party, or Keadilan) is about eight minutes in length. Also posted online by Chinese news site Merdeka Review, it opens with the film shot of a brightly coloured floral bowl, probably a salad bowl. The overall setting could be a private residence and the recording was done probably while seated, perhaps at the dining table.
There appears to be a reception, dinner perhaps, about to take place; note, for example, the bowl is empty but clean; and, a bottle of red wine is still uncorked. Almost in the entirety, the recording, supposedly in 2002, focuses on one man, VK Lingam, who is speaking through a cell phone. The person at the other end of the line is said to be Ahmad Fairuz Ahmad Halim, Chief Judge, Malaya, 2002, and now Chief Justice and the top judge in Malaysia.
B. THE RECORDING (explanatory notes)
After making public the video, the Justice Party (Keadilan) also circulated the transcript of the recording. This has been posted at the party’s website, at Malaysiakini, and at the Lim Kit Siang blog. The transcript (below) flows from the Keadilan effort but attempts to be more literal.
To be literal, this transcript follows a different structural arrangement because only one voice (Lingam’s), not two, is heard. Hence, paragraphing, editorial corrections and comments (in parentheses) are introduced to attempt to clarify meanings of spoken words. This is necessary because monologue, being extemporaneous, or off the cuff, omits a great deal of information in its textual form.
There is another problem in giving text to phone conversation. The words spoken are not situated in time, the topics lack clarity or specificity, so context is missing. Notations are therefore introduced at the bottom of the transcript to help with clarity.
Many names are thrown about in the phone conversation. And many of them have specific places and roles in the past, and in the annals of Malaysian judicial, political and commercial history. They date back well before 2002. That past is connected to the present. Explaining the characters, situating them in specific events, and their relations with each other, help to elucidate the phone conversation.
C. THE TRANSCRIPT (Lingam on the phone):
(Audible on opening shot; transcript begins…)
…Dzaiddin CJ lah
And the CJ said his relative is now the Agong. So he wants to stay on to sixty-eight.
So Tengku Adnan said … I told Tengku Adnan yesterday, I had a meeting with him … he said the PM is already very angry with him.
And he said whatever… he said he is going to make you acting er … of a … confirm your position as PCA … working very hard. And then get Tan Sri Mokhtar as CJM lah.
Ah. So we just keep it confidential. I am working very hard on it.
Then there is a letter, according to Tengku - I am going to see him tomorrow - there is a letter sent to .. ah CJ, I mean to Tan Sri Dzaiddin, that Datuk Heliliah, Datuk Hali (?), and Datuk Ramli, and Datuk Ramli (?) and Datuk Ma’arop be made judges.
And the… He rejected that Dr Andrew Chui and … ah… apa itu Zainuddin Ismail lah. Because Zainuddin Ismail who condemn your appointment and Tan Sri Mokhtar’s appointment.
And then he also… It seems wrote a letter for the remaining five be confirmed as judges. As per our memo I, I, discuss with er … Tun Eusoff Chin and we sent the same memo to PM.
So, I just want to get a copy of letter just to confirm this has been done. And then Tan Sri Dzaiddin said he is going to recommend for six people for Court of Appeal. But until today the letter hasn’t come to PM.
He has discussed. But neither has he sent the letter to PM.
He has not sent. I know it is under the Constitution for judges all … it is for your job, Datuk, to send. But we don’t want to make it an issue now….
Sometime ah? Ah…
So, ok. Actually I told Tengku Adnan to inform PM, PM to call you for a meeting. But… I’ll organize this so that Tengku Adnan will call you directly. And then I got your number, I will tell him to call you directly for you to arrange directly to meet PM lah. Ah, so should be ok. Ah, then ar…
Correct, correct, correct. Because it is very important that team players must be there.
Correct, correct, correct.
Ah.
Correct, correct.
You know the same problem Tun Eusoff Chin have (has?). He tried to do all this and in the end he has run out of soldiers. He couldn’t do it because many were from the other camp. You know… but… last time was unfortunate because Tun Daim was doing everything; sabotaging… you know.
Ah…
Otherwise, how are things with you? Everything’s ok?
No, don’t worry.
You know sometimes … Tan Sri Vincent … half the time they are talking about judiciary rather than doing the work. But if I don’t do this part, my work will be useless.
Ha, ha, ha!
Ah.
Yes.
Correct, correct, correct, correct. Correct.
Right, right, right. Correct.
Ah… ah. Right. Susah.
You see, you see, he has now (put) up six Court of Appeal judges, so that he can put his men before he retire(s).
Correct, correct, correct.
Ah, and then?
Ah. Ah. Correct, correct, correct.
Ah…
But never-mind, I will do this. I will get … a… Tengku Adnan to arrange for PM to call you and Tan Sri Vincent Tan, for PM to call dinner(?).
Actually, I am very grateful with Tan Sri Vincent Tan. You know why, I, I brainwash him so much that I have even quarrel with him. One day I went to Vincent Tan house, I fighting … right in the house. I said, ‘bloody hell, if you don’t do this who will do it? All these people - Tun Eusoff Chin, Datuk Ahmad Fairuz, Tan Sri Zainon – fought for us.’ Then he called Tengku Adnan. I told Tengku Adnan. He said, ‘Saya bukan Perdana Menteri Malaysia lah. You know. If the old man don’t want to listen to me, go to hell. He quarreled with me.’
I said never mind, never mind, you talk to PM again tomorrow morning to put Datuk Ahmad Fairuz to CJM. So next day morning he went and he called me back, 9:30. He said PM already agreed.
So I said never mind, we hope for the best. So I said no harm trying, the worst is that it can happen is, you lose. But… Being the old man, he is 76 years old, he gets whispers from everywhere, and if you don’t whisper, he gets … a… taken away by the other side.
But now PM is very alert because every time he get letter from Tan Sri Dzaiddin, he calls Tengku Adnan. He said, discuss with Vincent. Come and discuss. And…
Yes, yes, ya. Correct … correct. Ya.
But you see… Although I know PM, but my views… I am a lawyer … practic… my views are… I go through them, I go through them. Ah.
A … ah… ah… ah….
And then Dzaiddin will call … tell them that you went to see PM and make a big issue out of it.
Oh ya, I think so, I think so.
Ok. Ok, fine, fine, fine.
Ok, ok, ok, ok
Right
Ok, ok.
Ah. Ah. Correct, correct.
Now, I heard… Raja Aziz. Raja Aziz ah… . Two weeks ago spoke to my lawyer, Thayalan, and another lawyer Ailan, in the High Court. They have a case each other. So Thayalan and Ailan asked Raja Aziz, so how is Tan Sri Wan Adnan?
He said he is on his way down. But you know what is the shocking thing he said?
Datuk Fairuz became CJM. He overruled everybody. And three months time, he is going be PCA, and six months time he is going to be CJ. He said, ‘I can’t take this shock.’
He told lah…. Ha!
So, it seems, ah, that they are going to organize a campaign to…. They are going to organise to run you down. But you just keep quite, don’t say anything. Don’t… fall… even the press asked, you said I leave it to God, that’s all. Don’t say. I really like your message. You said, ‘I work very hard, what can I do? I leave it to God.’ That’s the best answer that Datuk you can ever give.
Ah…. Yah… I will also get Tan Sri to remind PM to put a Tan Sri-ship this year lah. Ah… you know, this will elevate you …and….
Ah.
Oh yes, yes, yes. Yes.
Ah.
Steve Shim got so fast! You know… Tan Sri Chong waited for whole year for Tan Sri-ship.
Ah….
My god. That’s why. Ah.
Correct, correct.
Correct, correct.
Ya, ya, ya, ya.
Ah.
Correct.
Right, right, right.
Correct. Right
Ah.
Correct, correct.
But don’t worry, we’ll organize this. And if Tan Sri Vincent, if Tan Sri Vincent and Tengku Adnan want to meet you privately … they… I will call you. We organize a private arrangement, in a very neutral place.
No, don’t worry … Datuk, I know how much you suffer for Tun Eusoff Chin. And Tun said, Datuk Ahmad Fairuz 110% loyalty. We want to make sure our friends are there for the sake of PM and for the sake of the country.
Not for our own interest, not for our own interest. We want to make sure the country comes first. Well… you suffered so much, so much you have done. You know… for the election petition, Wee Chee (Choo?) Keong, everything. How much? Nobody would have done all these.
Yes, you know.
Good lah.
Ok.
You don’t worry. I am constantly working on this.
Ya ya, don’t worry, don’t worry.
We work hard on this. And then … Datuk, and then if Tan Sri Vincent and Tengku Adnan want to see you, I will organize it in such a confidential place.
Ok, Datuk all the very best. And … God bless you and your family.
Ok.
Thank you thank you. Bye, bye, bye.”
(end of transcript)
D. NOTATIONS
Judicial hierarchy (in order of ranking):
-
Chief Justice (in transcript CJ)
-
Chief Judge of Malaya (CJM)
-
President, Court of Appeal (PCA)
The Year 2002: Mahathir Mohamad in the year 2002 was still prime minister (in transcript, PM, or perdana menteri in Malay). It was his penultimate year. Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the Justice Party, was still in jail; Fadzil Noor, a leader of the Islamic Party (PAS) died; in by-elections for Fadzil’s two seats in Kedah – one parliament, one state, both won in 1999 – Umno re-took the parliament.
VK Lingam: Barrister and solicitor, member of Malaysian Bar. He and Eusoff Chin were photographed on holiday at the same time in New Zealand in 1994. He was counsel for Vincent Tan in a defamation suit against journalist MGG Pillai (deceased). In Pillai’s appeal, Eusoff Chin, being Chief Justice at the time, was a presiding judge.
Ahmad Fairuz Ahmad Halim (in transcript Datuk or Dato, an honorific title): Born 1941. Joined government judicial and legal service in 1967, and has worked in the advisory board of prime minister’s department. Appointed Judicial Commissioner in 1988, as Sessions Court president, as High Court judge 1995, Federal Court judge 2000, Chief Judge Malaya 2002, Chief Justice 2003. Given here is a glowing account of the man by the Sunday Star, 2003. Fairuz was in 2002 a Datuk. Lingam’s reference to a “Tan Sri-ship” is a national (as opposed to state level) honorific title that predates the Tun that Fairuz now holds.
Mahathir Mohamad (in transcript PM or prime minister or perdana menteri in Malay): A man who has done so much, either because of or in spite of all his good intentions, to ruin the nation. A year after the Lingam conversation, Mahathir retired and ceded office to Abdullah Badawi in 2003. By then Mahathir had been PM for a generation, 22 years, and during his last few years, Ahmad Fairuz rose in the judiciary hierarchy quickly, in 2000, 2002, and 2003. Under his recommendation to the Agong (King), he also elevated the positions of Mokhtar Abdullah (deceased 2003) in the Attorney-General’s department and then to succeed the latter, Gani Patail, the man who prosecuted Anwar Ibrahim.
Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (in transcript Tengku Adnan). Putrajaya MP and made tourism minister in February 2006. In the government since 2001 as deputy minister in prime minister’s department and made full minister in November 2002 but excluded in 2004. Born 1950, from Malacca, educated in High School Setapak, Vanto Academy, and Mara. Represented in the board of Vincent Tan’s Berjaya affiliated companies, including Berjaya Industrial, Berjaya Air, and Unza. Active politics began in Setapak Umno party. Term (2004-07) chairman of the Federal Territory State Liaison Committee. More details.
Mohamed Dzaiddin (or Dzaidin) Abdullah (in transcript Tan Sri Dzaiddin). Chief Justice in 2002 and succeeded by Fairuz.
Mokhtar Abdullah. Attorney-General 1994 to 2000, and appointed as Federal Court judge in 2001 but died before more deals could be cut.
Vincent Tan Chee Yioun (陳志远, pinyin, Chen Zhiyuan. In transcript Tan Sri Vincent). Born 1952. In the way Faizul’s judicial career bloomed in the Mahathir era, so did the businesses of Vincent Tan. Berjaya spearheads this array of businesses – property, resorts, gaming (gambling actually), media, retail – that in the aggregate is big by Malaysian standards. Wiki supplied entry.
Heliliah Mohd Yusof (in transcript, Datuk Heliliah). One of four women judges in Malaysia. Former Solicitor-General, appointed High Court judge in a letter in September 2002.
Ramly Ali (in transcript Datuk Ramly). A former Chief Registrar, appointed High Court judge at the same time as Heliliah in letter Sep 2002.
Ahmad Maarop (in transcript Datuk Maarop). Appointed High Court judge along with Heliliah and Ramly in letter in Sep 2002.
Wee Choo Keong (in transcript): Former MP for Bukit Bintang, first for the Democratic Action Party and then as an independent. Litigations involving Wee are plenty.
Anwar Ibrahim. He wrote from prison to Fairuz in October 2003, then as Chief Justice, seeking a review, appeal and bail of his corruption and sodomy convictions. The core of his allegations: the sentence judges were not only wrong in legal interpretation, but they were unethical. Ironically, it might have been Fairuz who eventually granted the review of the corruption conviction.
E. SAMPLE CASES
Milestone litigation or legal cases involving one or more of the persons named:
Vincent Tan, in defamation suit against MGG Pillai, journalist (deceased) presided by Eusoff Chin, with Lingam as counsel.
Lina Joy, seeking to remove the word Islam from her personal identity documents and government registry. Presiding judge (one of three): Fairuz.
F. OBSERVATIONS
Accepting the veracity of the video clip, the conversation is revealing into the characteristics of Malaysian political culture and encapsulates all that his habitual and normal in day-to-day discourse among its people.
-
Don’t make it an issue now: Independence in, or the equality of relations among, the three-legs of government – executive, legislature, judiciary – is a piece of fiction. Everything in Malaysia is negotiable. Lingam: I know it is under the Constitution for judges all … it is for your job, Datuk, to send. But we don’t want to make it an issue now….
-
I know PM, but… : Judicial appointments, because they are negotiable, are done on a deal. In the mechanics of the deal, influence peddling; in the principle of the deal, something for everybody; it is akin, even identical, to senior appointments for places in government institutions, in corporate bodies, in schools, for employment, and in the issue of contracts. Lingam: Although I know PM, but my views… Datuk, I know how much you suffer for Tun Eusoff Chin.
-
The Fawning: As it is with the commercial class and public authorities, the judiciary and the executive government cultivate each other for the purpose of fathering each other’s individual ambitions, clique interests (financial, political or commercial) and drive their future goals. The surprise is that judicial officers use businessmen to advance their personal goals (the assumption all along is the other way around), while the media grovels at the feet of the powerful and the rich. Note for example the fawning account of Fairuz in the Sunday Star.
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The Best Answer: Everybody – from the religious types to the seekers of objective truths (lawyers and judges) - claims god on his side. And, in the same breath, they also claim to be selfless and patriotic, even if they, and they alone, believe in their own words. Lingam: I really like your message…. That’s the best answer that Datuk you can ever give.
-
Keep quiet, say nothing: In ways like individual driving habits, attitudes of taxi drivers and the civil service lot, cynicism is endemic in Malaysian life, all the way to the top. So distrustful and so self-serving is it that in the relations among Malaysians, the virtuous life is an abnormality. Only outright conflict that will close the circle on self-delusion has yet to break out. Lingam: (T)hey are going to organize a campaign … to run you down. But you just keep quite, don’t say anything.
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Not for our interests: So then, in the name of the country: Next to God and to The People, Our Country is at the top of the most frequently cited authority. It makes no difference who invokes it: Lingam, Faisal, Tan, et al, are, after all, products of the same society. Lingam: We want to make sure the country comes first. Well… you suffered so much, so much you have done. An assertion of truth or a statement to flatter? Suffer? What is it to suffer, really suffer?
G. MALAYSIA’S KAFKA WORLD
Image above: Kafka bronze sculpture in Prague.
Malaysians, lawyers for example, that are shocked at the revelation of the phone conversation are being disingenuous. The scenes in the conversation are replayed everyday, in everyday life, in offices, in living rooms, in the corridors of courtrooms, in restaurants, hotels, in meeting rooms, in dark corners, on the curbside, inside a car, beside a police patrolman…. An underlying principle holds true in all: pull the connections, cut the deal, and say nothing. The only difference between this and other deals is in the magnitude and in the severity of the implications.
The surprise is somebody waited five years and then betray a “friend”, a dinner acquintance, Lingam. But in Malaysia, in the circumstances that it is in, there are no friends, only interests….
Malaysian lawyers in particular are especially enamoured by the conversation. Here in Lingam is one of their kind and revealed in him is the actual mechanics of cutting a deal. Lingam sums it for them: “… half the time they are talking about judiciary rather than doing the work. But if I don’t do this part, my work will be useless.”
Malaysian law applications, legal practices, the judiciary, the police, the public officer, the government – all thrive in a Kafkaesque world: absurd, nonsensical, and menacing. There is no salvation until the Kafkaesque spirit of despair is broken and the society recast itself to leave left behind the absurdity. Lingam, Faisal, Vincent Tan et al, it has to be remembered, are products of the society. Here’s Lingam with the absurdity: God bless you and your family.
That sentence, above, is not a prayer; it is an avowal of friendship and solidarity. Hence in Malaysia, god fights god, prayer fights prayer. If the despair in Kafkaesque remains unbroken, then “every revolution evaporates and leaves only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” – Franz Kafka (1883-1924).
In Abdullah Badawi is this Kafkaesque’s statement:
If the evidence show what transpired in the video was not the truth, action should be taken against those who released the video, as well as all those who lodged ACA reports.
Truth: another grand word. What Abdullah says is true in The Trial. There, evidences are filed away for the lack of veracity or adequacy. The innocent is sent away or punished; Josef K is put to death.
Kafka wrote: “But questions that don’t answer themselves at the very moment of their asking are never answered.”
And then this: “In the fight between you and the world, back the world”.
Belatedly, the doorkeeper is the person seated at the same dining table.
Postscript remark: Lingam needs improvement on his English grammar and to polish his diction.
