People say that only in Malaysia will you get shocking news like what had taken place recently.
First shocker was when the former Transport Minister and MCA president (now) Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was charged with cheating the Malaysian government by misleading the Cabinet on the land acquisition for the infamous PKFZ project in Port Klang.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on July 29.
Then the second shocker came 11 days later when it was revealed that Teoh Beng Hock, 30, the political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, who was found dead on July 16 last year on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after giving his statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, located on the 14th floor of the same building, had left a 'note' in his backpack.
Though the contents of the note were not revealed, there was much speculation that it was purportedly a 'suicide' note.
The news was shocking because the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the 'note' were so unbelievable.
The investigating officer found the note a day after Teoh's death, but did not realise its significance as it was written in Chinese and Roman characters. What kind of investigation was that?
The Attorney General's Chambers later was told about the note and it was translated and analysed on Oct 9 and Oct 20.
The AG's Chambers knew about the note 10 months ago, but did not introduce it as evidence purportedly because they wanted to ensure that it was authentic.
Now after all the learned testimonies in the inquiry into Teoh's death, including one expert who opined that there was a high possibility of foul play, the AG suddenly pulled out an ace card by introducing the 'note' as evidence and claiming there had been no suppression of evidence, are the people expected to believe all that?
If the government had wanted to score some points with the people by charging Tun Ling by effectively saying that no big-shot, no matter how big physically or politically, will escape the long arm of the law, then they lost all the points with the debacle concerning Teoh's 'note'.
What are the people saying? The talk is that Ling's case will be a show trial as the authorities would hear his case before the next general election and then acquit him on grounds of insufficient evidence after the election (if Barisan wins).
As for Teoh's 'note', most people think it's a fake and no matter how hard the prosecution tries to convince the coroner that it is original by producing expert witnesses, the people will say it's a 'pirated' copy.
I think the people's opinion of Teoh's 'note' will be of more significance than Ling's case as far as voting trend is concerned.
