After such a cloud of dust has been churned by the tit-for-tat exchange involving no less than such illustrious personages and political luminaries as Malaysia's longest-serving erstwhile prime minister and perhaps Malaysia's longest-serving minister of international trade and industry, it behooves the authorities to placate the raging unease of a public 'dying-to-know' the truth behind the Approved Permit (AP) business.

The executive is beholden to the public, period.

It is utterly jarring to see this controversy on the verge of turning acrid, if not already so, between once-great friends. And to a public, so uninitiated and so removed from the news-that-matters, this subject certainly deserves daylight and airing lest it turns rancid.

There is a half-dead cat struggling to get out of the bag. The executive must 'operate in daylight' (former UN secretary-general Dag Hammarksjold). This is not a wee issue of public interest. It has a multi-billion-ringgit impact on our national economy! Not to mention the linkages, spin-offs, multiplier effects et. al. There is hardly any need to elaborate.

Even if some quarters may agree hesitatingly, I dare say Pak Lah has done a scintillating job for IT (the abbreviation for 'Integrity' and 'Transparency'). This AP business comes within the IT compass. It would be ludicrous to appoint a commission to get to the bottom of a matter so mundane. An executive directive would suffice.

No fallout would taint Pak Lah. The issue pre-dates his tenure. In fact, it would be fair to honour the Tun by acceding to his request. Much of it happened during the currency of his tenure anyway.

He knows everything ('almost') and must believe the public ('people') has a right to know and ought to know now. And if he has no qualms, why should his successor?

At the end of the day (or week), 'fiat justitia, ruat coelum' - let justice be done though the heavens fall.