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‘Malaysian Official 1 present, but also not’

I refer to the news that the Umno supreme council during its meeting yesterday took note of the Malaysian Official 1 referred to in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil suit in relation to 1MDB.

The Umno supreme council took note. This would mean that the prime minister also took note of the Malaysian Official 1.

So, what does that mean? The prime minister took note of himself without expressly saying that he took note of himself? Did he encounter a momentary out of body experience?

What would have been the state of mind of the other council members I wonder? You have a situation where the prime minister is present as well as the alleged elusive Malaysian Official 1, but in their minds he is not present because they are not the same person.

It’s a bit like having an invisible friend, but you don’t want to admit the existence of that invisible friend because he is not invisible after all, but real.

Confusing, right? I know.

This is what you get when you put a bunch of people who are living in a fantasy world far far away from reality in the same room on the same table. Failure to accept the truth which is staring at your face.

I am sure there is a psychological term for this.

While the entire world seems to know who Malaysian Official 1 is, yet, you have some people who sit in council with Malaysian Official 1 refusing to acknowledge that Malaysian Official 1 is present at that very same council meeting.

If I were a council member at that meeting, I would have looked to Malaysian Official 1 and said something like “I am taking note of Malaysian Official 1 but I am not taking note of you as I am looking at you because in my mind you are not Malaysian Official 1 even though you are actually Malaysian Official 1.”

If I were Malaysian Official 1, I would have replied with something like “Yes, I, too, take note of Malaysian Official 1 but I am not taking note of myself because I am not Malaysian Official 1 even though I know I am Malaysian Official 1.”

One can only wonder for how long this denial would carry on. This is because the more the government refers to Malaysian Official 1 as though he is not present, when he obviously is, the more absurd they sound.


PUTHAN PERUMAL is an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.

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