In any vocation, there are experts who have the knowledge and experience gained after years of study and work. But there are also pseudo-whizzes and self-appointed connoisseurs who claim to be authorities and act and behave authoritatively.

In times of crisis, they usually end up as attack dogs, hoping to discredit the findings of individuals and corporations. But having attack dogs with no bite is more a liability than an asset in times of crisis.

Desperate times need desperate measures even if it means to bring discredited “experts” to the fore. This is what seems to be happening in light of the series of exposés on alleged payments to certain individuals and companies by the London-based whistleblower site, Sarawak Report.

Former editor Lester Melanyi and his handler Ramesh Rao have once again surfaced in the media trying to discredit the site and in the process making fools of themselves. Their re-emergence may be providing some comic relief to many Malaysians without even Putrajaya and its occupants realising their folly.

Jolted by the latest filings by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), like dying men clutching at straws, a host of other self-appointed spokespersons (cabinet ministers included) are falling over themselves and doing more harm than good.

Many are rushing to address the issue trying to score brownie points with the boss, little realising they continue to agitate and irritate the citizens with blatant lies and irrational statements. Instead of addressing the issue, they have entered the fray in an effort to demonise the DOJ. Some of their statements are preposterous and border on absurdity.

We have heard of “Western media jealous of Malaysia’s success”; they have since moved to “foreign conspiracy” and “opposition influence”. Now, according to Umno information chief Annuar Musa, it has become a “conspiracy to end Muslim rule in Malaysia”.

If Annuar’s statements were farcical, then MCA chief Liow Tiong Lai, who waded into the issue, did not help with his comments. His nonsensical “DOJ must prove its latest allegations relating to 1MDB in a competent court of law” is evidence of some cabinet members choosing to be naïve and ignorant....