I refer to the Malaysiakini report Lingam tape: businessman goes public . Finally we have a material witness who is willing to testify that his son took the video recording of the infamous telephone conversation between a senior lawyer and the then chief judge of Malaya.

The plot seems to thicken. Previously, when the government set up a three-member panel to look into the issue, nobody dared to come forward with hard evidence. Possibly due to the fact that no immunity from legal proceeding was accorded to them.

The die is cast. If the royal commission authenticates the recorded tape conversation, we can assume that there was a conspiracy between third parties and those in the higher echelons of government then to ‘fix’ the appointment of the chief justice.

The world will be watching the outcome of the royal commission on the Lingam tape with keen interest. If our government wants to promote transparency, we should let justice run its course. The guilty parties who interfered in judicial appointments in this country should pay for their misdeeds.

Surely we do not want to be a nation where things can be ‘fixed’ by individuals with powerful connections to their political masters. If the chief justice’s post can be ‘fixed’, we shouldn’t be surprised if other top posts in the government can be ‘fixed ‘just as well. It is not good for national interests if people appointed to high posts are there not on merit but because of who they know.

If we want to progress in the future, our civil service, the police force, the ACA and the judiciary must be headed by clean persons whose loyalties are towards the country and not for their political masters. Our top politicians need to understand that the law applies to them also.

One shudders to think that the Lingam tape is just the tip of the iceberg. Judging from scandal after scandal that has bled our country dry, one suspects that corrupt top officials are in cahoots with their political masters to ‘fix’ things in this country in order to enrich themselves by dubious means.

Decent Malaysians can only hope that the royal commission on the Lingam tape is the start of a clean-up of corrupt practices by the bigwigs of society. Other royal commissions should also be set up to look at other misdeeds which have harmed our national interests and caused the common people to suffer.