On Oct 23, Gombak MP Azmin Ali raised an issue in Parliament on the whereabouts of businessperson Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.

According to the Hansard, he asked: "I have brought this up a few months ago, in which police should get Interpol’s help to locate or determine the location of Jho Low, who has been mentioned in many international reports as being directly involved in financial and business crimes.

“My question is, what is the police’s position on this matter? Will police seek Interpol's help to determine Jho Low’s location and get Interpol’s cooperation to detain and bring back Jho Low for the purposes of an investigation into the biggest financial scandal in the country?”

In reply, Home Minister cum Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahidi Hamid said: “Even though this was not the original question, I wish to state that cooperation with Interpol is not only tight but the new Interpol president is the MPS vice minister, of public security of China. Regarding this case, we actually have made a request to Interpol to look for the whereabouts of the person mentioned by Gombak.

"We are very confident that Interpol acted professionally and police have yet to receive any detailed information from Interpol. But we are confident what has been done by international bodies, especially intelligence agencies, had been finalised. We are confident that the case is no longer relevant except to be raised by dissatisfied politicians".

The above remarks were translated by Malaysiakini from the official records of the Hansard.

Reporters covering Parliament were banging away on their computers to file their stories to the office so that they could be published in the form of a news report.

Editors in the office took cognisance of this new and important development, and obviously, it was the talking point of the day.

These discussions had hardly died down when the deputy prime minister “denied” his entire utterances in the august House and issued a statement to the effect that the police have closed their investigation into Jho Low (photo).

In a statement prepared and issued by the deputy prime minister's office the same afternoon, Zahid said the issue of seeking Interpol’s assistance to locate the businessman did not arise.

“My answer to Gombak MP Azmin Ali in the Dewan Rakyat this morning clearly states that there is no case to be tried,” the statement said.

In a matter of hours, there were scurrilous and outrageous attempts to change from what appeared to be black, to white.

If the statement was done with the sleight of hand, even David Copperfield will have stiff competition.

To the many cynical Malaysians, this was yet an attempt to pull wool over the people’s eyes and Zahid’s conduct is reflective of the government’s futile and continued attempts to ignore the elephant in the room.

Both the statements – in and outside the House – are a dangerous precedent which destroys the basic fundamentals of parliamentary procedure and the records of its proceedings.

It is common knowledge that what has been said in the House remains on record unless expunged or amended by a motion.

There is also no such thing such as "undoing" what was done in the House. These are elementary, as Sherlock Holmes would have told his sidekick, Watson.

There’s much more than mere procedures. It smacks of an unabated abuse of the system (if it ever exists) and more importantly, the state trying to muzzle and mislead the people through the House.

But then, wait, there are these brouhahas which suddenly come to the fore when politicians and the government are caught with their pyjamas below their knees.

Yes, there’s a mantra to all the ills of the people who open their mouths without engaging their brains in gear. It is called “fake news”.

For members of the cabinet, the prime minister included, “fake news” seems to be the “get out of jail card” when they are caught trying to mislead the people with their sometimes nonsensical utterances...