YOURSAY 'This is vintage Mahathir. First, plead ignorance. Then deny, deny, deny. When the spotlight is shining on him, try and pin the blame on somebody else.'

Dr M: For Ling to cheat, his officers must be tainted

Tehachapi: Come on, be real. We are not dumb. In this present context, there is no doubt that it was the ex-PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Umno-BN captain, who was directing Dr Ling Liong Sik on what to do in carrying the former's instructions aimed at winning the elections.

The inflated Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land prices was done to create a windfall to fund their electoral campaigns.

It is common knowledge that Mahathir ran a tight ship, had all the powers, and had never tolerated any opinions, none but his own. Do you think Ling dared to oppose his master?

Think, his former deputy prime ministers were summarily and mercilessly sacked when they were perceived to be independent-minded. It is a joke to believe that the senior ministerial officers had the courage or authority other than acting as highly-paid couriers.

With the benefit of this background information, it should not be difficult for the prosecutors to find that Mahathir himself was the chief architect and mastermind behind the fraud case, while Ling was none other than his unwitting sidekick and now fall guy.

StoptheRot: Mahathir used the exact same logic when he denied that throwing former DPM Anwar Ibrahim into jail was from his doing.

He said that for him to have done it all, various parties - including law enforcement officers and judges - must have had to be acting in collusion. He said that this was not possible.

He has depended on this flawed logic one too many times.

Righteous: It is common for a Malaysian public servant to turn a blind eye to what their superiors are doing. They can't stop them being corrupt, and if they try, they will surely lose their job and income.

Broken Foot: This is vintage Mahathir. First, plead ignorance. Then deny, deny, deny. When the spotlight is shining on him, try and pin the blame on somebody else. I think he knows more than he is saying.

These lawyers should stop pussyfooting around him and ask some tough question to trip him up. In his coming to defend Ling, perhaps the phrase "birds of a feather" comes to mind?

YF: Have you ever heard of another phrase - "The buck stops here"? You, as PM, are responsible for ensuring that no crooked deals are done, and yet you were part of it. And not only this, you were also part of the citizenship-for-votes scam.

How can one man who has committed so many crooked scams still be deemed as a PM? In more civilised countries, this sort of PM would have stepped down. But in Malaysia, our PM has a selective memory.

JFA: Don't blame his cheating, if you really want to blame, blame the people who voted for him. Think twice about this coming 13th general election about the future of Malaysia. Who will you be voting for?

AkuMelayuIslam: It's an open secret that so many 'haram' (forbidden) instructions were given to government servants by the people from Umno and BN for the benefit of those ‘Malays' who were personally involved, so don't try to be innocent with the rakyat. No more, the government servants have had enough.

Quigonbond: I don't have a problem accepting that some senior civil servants colluded with ministers.

It doesn't require a big stretch of imagination, when these corrupt civil servants advance to lead certain GLCs (government-linked companies), run for elections under Umno banner, or become successful overnight businessmen when they retire.

We just need to look at the EC chief and his deputy, or the former KSN (chief secretary of the government) as glaring examples.

Dr M wants us to believe that the civil service is infallible, and therefore advances a flawed reason that since civil service can do no wrong, the minister who relies on civil servant's information will also be incapable of cheating.

The truth is, civil servants of sufficient seniority and therefore usefulness can potentially be co-opted by corrupt ministers/politicians to do the most illegal things ranging from massaging statistics and numbers to even State Assembly takeover.

OMG!!: Mahathir testified that the cabinet has the final say, whatever the officers might have recommended, and indeed in this case the cabinet decided on the land price and interest without referring to the advice of the Valuation and Property Services Department.

As such, wasn't the entire cabinet tainted? Don't blame the civil servants.

Kelate: "Dr M: For Ling to cheat, his officers must be tainted". This also implies that for the PM to cheat, his ministers must be tainted. Extrapolating further down the line - all are exceedingly tainted.

This is what the rakyat are seeing in the government-of-the-day and are exceedingly upset.

Multi Racial: It does not matter whether the minister works on the details or not. The bottom line is that PKFZ has failed with billions of ringgit in losses. Someone has to be responsible. If not Ling, then who? I think it should be Dr Ling and Dr M.

Truly Malaysian: If I used this argument in my company, I would be fired. Only in Malaysia can someone say this with a straight face.

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