And Finally, the Salleh Abas Case....

Pakdokter had been struggling to find time to read Mahathir's Memoirs since purchasing the copy on the day it was launched. Unfortunately with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, pakdokter had to pay attention to Rastam's status in Tokyo - and pakdokter was also not going to forgo pakdokter's passion for golf! So much of the time during the weekend was taken out for golf.

But still the 10 minutes on the train each way daily to the clinic, the hour or so on the 'throne' every morning ( pakdokter's bowels are well trained to discharge wastes at the same time daily - just like the many predictable Japanese gadgets!) - did allow pakdokter to catch up on the reading. Pakdokter had meant to put up comments on many of the other chapters - but there were too many of them and pakdokter does not have the habit of keeping notes like Mahathir ( or Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia whose memoirs pakdokter just read last month). And a fair amount of computer times were spent keeping in touch with Rastam these past few days.

The chapter on the judiciary came around the 600th page of the book. Some lawyer groups on facebook had already been seen to have commented on this. They were all either rapid-readers or they had just gone straight to this chapter. And of course most of them just pooh-poohed Mahathir's explanation of the problem.

In fact what Mahathir wrote in the book is not new - this fact had been reported quite recently - if pakdokter remembers right - during the infamous Lingam Royal Commission enquiry. That Tun Saleh Abbas was asked to be removed by the then Agong because he had insulted His Majesty by writing a letter of complaint to the King ( and sending cc copies to the other brother Sultans) about the noises from the construction activities of the King's residence which happened to be at the Lord President's neighbouring site.

What would pakdokter do if pakdokter was the PM? The same as Mahathir - i.e. show the letter to Tun Abas for his wisdom and rightful decision to avoid as much embarassment as posible to everybody.

What would pakdokter have done if pakdokter was Tun Abas?

Pakdokter would have asked for an audience with the King, apologised ( for this breach of protocol) and appealed for His Majesty's kindness and if so insisted, pakdokter would have tendered pakdokter's resignation. Full stop. If pakdokter was lucky, His Majesty the King may even give pakdokter a hug and let pakdokter go with a gentle reminder.

Pakdokter had read Tun Abas's book on this matter when it came out many years ago - and pakdokter must admit that pakdokter is not so clever, being just a simple Melayu with an average intelligence and common sense. Many of the legal jargons and reasonings are beyond pakpandir...oops sorry ...pakdokter's comprehension.

But Tun Abas's silence on this issue is a little difficult to understand. Perhaps the learned Lord President should write his memoirs and his version of the event. Tun Abas has never denied about that letter. Whether he wrote that letter to the King and His fellow Brothers or not could still be verified - some of the Sultans then are still holding Court and the Attroney-General then is also still kicking and running around. How pakdokter wished they all can do their bit by writing their pieces of history.

Pakdokter is not interested in who is right or wrong - very often things can be both right and wrong. But let's try to put history on record. We can learn a lot from history.