I am embarrassed by the Bar Council chairperson, Mah Weng Kwai's statement

approving the appointment of former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman as the new chairperson of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission or Suhakam.

As a senior member of the bar, Mah must have known of the scandals related to Abu Talib when he was AG, a post he held for 13 years. Abu Talib's short stint in the Commission of Inquiry into Anwar Ibrahim's black eye incident does nothing to "whiten" his name over the destruction of the blue tapes incident of DP Vijandran, then a top-notch MIC politician.

Abu Talib's other infamous official acts/omissions are surfacing again thanks to a vigilant civil society. But no thanks to the government-controlled presses and their band of insipid journos.

If the Bar Council is not in a position to make responsible statements on the suitability of Abu Talib to the Suhakam appointment in view of the said scandals, then Mah should not have said anything at all.