Duck and Cover

Technorati tags: Humor, Judiciary, VK Lingam, Judicial Reform, Royal Commission of Inquiry, LingamGate

There's a saying: if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, then it's gotta be a duck.

Why is it so difficult to get straight answers from lawyers? VK Lingam has essentially said that the person in the video is definitely maybe him. And a definite maybe was as close to an answer the Royal Commission of Inquiry got.

Walski thinks though, that if it sounds like VK Lingam, and it looks like VK Lingam... it's a very good chance that it's not a duck.
(round and round the judicial review, in the full post)

Okay, we got that part settled. Well, here is a snippet of the commission transcript, as published by Malaysiakini yesterday.

Are you the man speaking on the phone?
It looks like me.

So are you the man speaking on the phone?
My answer is - irrespective of what other have said - it looks like me, it sounds like me. I have consulted my experts overseas, (they said) the only way to verify its authenticity is to have the original video or equipment (which made the video clip) itself. If I have (the original video or equipment), I will send them to my experts and if necessary, I will ask them to testify.
(source: Malaysiakini - subscription required)

Gee... it's no wonder this joke was featured in the 1993 film Philadelphia:

Q: What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?
A: A good start.

Well, all kidding aside, Walski reckons that just like doctors make lousy patients, putting lawyers on the witness stand probably has the same effect - as in they make lousy witnesses...

Whatever it is, going by the testimony revealed through the Royal Commission of Inquiry so far, regardless of what they eventually find out, it's becoming pretty clear that a serious review of the judiciary is in order.

And no amount of duck and cover is concealing this sad and sorry fact.

Walski's not a lawyer-hater disclaimer footnote: Okay, Walski has nothing personal against lawyers in general, so don't get the wrong idea. It's just funny that in this case it's easier to pry off car tires with your bare hands, than it was to get a straight answer from VK Lingam.