Wily old fox

The wily old fox is just as sharp and evasive as ever and there's nobody who can compel him to be otherwise. When he appeared before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the VK Lingam videotape to take questions from the commissioners and lawyers, he demonstrated how memory could be selectively retained. Any whiff of a question that may lead to a sensitive answer that begs further lines of interrogation is answered with a "I can't remember" whereas safer questions are answered emphatically.

A disappointment was that the lawyers representing the other interested parties could not seem to pry more information from the old man. After all, he had already offered to answer any question that may be beyond the terms of reference of this inquiry. Or perhaps they had sensed the inevitable response of "I don't remember" if they probed any deeper?

What's interesting is his own choice of lawyers in the husband-and-wife legal team of Datuk Dr Ya'acob Hussein Merican and Datuk Tunku Sofiah Jewa. Tunku Sofiah was the favourite niece of the late Tunku Abdul Rahman but more pointedly, both she and Dr Yaakub are aligned to former Lord President Tun Dr Salleh Abas who had his own share of problems with the old man.