Merry-go-round

These past three weeks had provided some distractions from work but somehow, I feel that it has been a complete waste of time. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the VK Lingam video has taken on a very surreal feeling as it winds down.

At the back of my mind, the RCI has become a merry-go-round in a circus. It all started with this man who started the ball rolling with his selective forgetfulness. I don't remember this, I don't remember that. This coming from a man who reputedly has an elephant's memory.

Since his appearance before the RCI, almost everything else seems to have gone downhill. We've seen witnesses come and go, witnesses claiming their own brand of forgetfulness, witnesses making all sorts of denials, witnesses bragging and boasting, witnesses making all sorts of claims, smart aleck witnesses making snide comments at others and lawyers behaving, like, lawyers.

All at the expense of this man who so much wanted to be a witness. He started the ball rolling with the releases of Act I and Act II but at the very end, was told politely that he might not be needed as a witness at all. What a letdown for him. Almost pitiable. In desperation, he also released Act III but by then, people were questioning why these videos were being released in instalments.

At the centre of the inquiry, we have the star witness himself saying the man in the video looked like him and sounded like him but it may not be 100 percent him. He comes across as lacking credibility but does he worry?

Nooo..... He's a suave actor, all right. Very confident of himself, very cocksure of himself. He denied everything, boasted and bragged, bullshitted around, parried all the questions thrown at him and even made a startling suggestion about one of the lawyers at the RCI.

He said that he was only trying to impress his house guest but why would anyone go to all that extent to tell tall tales? Was it preplanned? What did he have to prove to his guest? Why? And if it really wasn't the former CJ at the other end of the line, who was it that played along with him, not for one minute but for eight minutes or more? I doubt we'll ever know the real answers. And I can bet you that the RCI will be equally stymied. Looking through so many negatives to find a positive. I wouldn't be surprised if, at the end, their findings will be inconclusive.