I refer to the Malaysiakini report Judge appointments: Tycoon denies influencing Mahathir .

With regards to this royal commission of inquiry into the Lingam tape scandal, I watch and read about the proceedings with much trepidation.

Because of the inquiry, all of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s men whose names were negatively impacted by the Lingam tape now have an official platform to state their denials.

No matter how lame these denials may be, they are headlined by the government media as the gospel truth.

Those among the rakyat who wishfully think that this scandal could not possibly be true, will readily swallow - hook, line and sinker - the spin being spun at the commission hearings. Objective achieved. Damage controlled. All's well that ends well.

Without going into the technical merits of the commission's proceedings, I just want to state simply that I believe the witnesses are lying through their teeth. Oath or no oath, from their body language and fake bravado smiles, I can detect the mental anguish of the highest judicial officers of the land having a taste of their own courtroom medicine.

Is this democracy at work? Or is this a show staged by those whose real interest is not in the fine principles of democracy but in the maintenance of the status quo, as long as there are enough hand-outs for the chosen group?

Can we expect the five wise commissioners - in whom we trust to pursue the truth - to do what is right? Or do I have to worry that the keys to their chambers might be spirited away by some aspiring official if their deliberations do not conform to someone else's wishes?

To borrow a term used by Mahathir in his eulogy of Suharto’s dictatorial regime, in the future, this Lingam tape episode will be described as a ‘small imperfection’ of democracy during the Barisan Nasional’s rule. It is almost like Mahathir delivering his own eulogy.

How much more of this can Malaysians stand for?