Now that the Attorney General, Ainum Saaid, has tendered her resignation, I hope your publication is satisfied that rumours you helped fuel have finally driven her from her job. I have no doubt that she has taken this step for some peace of mind and to preserve her health.

It is a sad that in Malaysia we do not value integrity and high standards of professionalism in those who hold public office. Ainum embodied the above qualities. Those who know her and worked with her as I have, will attest to the fact that she is a person of unimpeachable integrity.

She was head-hunted for the position of Attorney General and was persuaded by the government to fill that post. She was happy with her job at the Securities Commission, but she accepted the government's invitation, as she saw it as a duty to the nation.

It is unfair that her decision to take one-month's leave to recuperate from a recurring medical condition was exploited by mischief-makers who created the story on the Internet that she was under investigation by the Securities Commission. The Malaysian press - your publication included - seized on this allegation like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Denials by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Rais Yatim, and by the Securities Commission did not succeed in ending the speculation. It appeared that the press made no attempt to investigate the truth. Innuendos and insinuations, it seems, are good substitutes for the truth.

In Malaysia currently, public figures can be brought down with wild allegations on the Internet. The Malaysian press accepts these allegations as plausible, on the doubtful reasoning that there is no smoke without a fire. The victim's background is not investigated. His or her performance record is not looked into. In short, professional ethics and journalistic standards are happily cast aside for a good story, never mind if it is fabricated.

In the case of Ainum, her departure contributed to by the persecution from the press, will be a sad loss not just to the Attorney General's Chambers but to the country. She is not only acknowledged as possessing one of the finest legal brains in the country, but in the one year since her appointment, she has tried to stop the rot in the department and to raise the professional standards and performance of her officers. Her appointment and that of Tan Sri Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah as the Chief Justice earlier this year were hailed by those in the legal fraternity as the light at the end of a dark tunnel. Those who know them were confident that they had the capacity to raise their respective institutions to the heights they had attained previously.

Now, Ainum's work in that direction has been cut short thanks to the mischief-makers, aided and abetted by the press. The real casualty in this whole sorry episode is truth and decency.

Sadly, her resignation, instead of stopping the speculation has fuelled it even more. The press is now demanding to know whether Ainum was pressured by the government into resigning.

May I suggest that the press go after the real crooks instead. There is certainly no scarcity of them on the Malaysian scene.