7. Calling for Evidence

BREAKING NEWS: 10.10 am

Datuk Mahadev Shankar:

If any person out there, the public, has got any material information which bears on the authenticity of this tape, feel free to come to us. Please I repeat, feel free to come to us, but make sure the evidence that you are bringing here is reliable, relevant and we would have to decide on its admissibility.

Don’t say ‘Mr X’, ‘Mr Y’ and so on. If you’re coming with a statement, please give your name, identity card number, (and) where that person can be contacted.

Let me put it this way to you - the responsibility of a stable and orderly society is not on the government alone. You know every citizen has got that same duty. As far as the public is concerned, with respect to all of you, a lot of noises being made in the blogs and Internet, anybody can say anything. But what is your responsibility? Somebody out there is holding the original video, has he got a responsibility?

To have the video produced so that we can look at it and see what is contained or whatever it is. Somebody out there took that video, has he got a responsibility? They may have been others there who saw what was happening and so on, have they got a responsibility? It is not just talking and talking. You create a situation and then the whole country is going up and down, worrying and wondering what is going on.

The truth is the best armour, justice is the best protection. You can’t pick that out of the air. The people who has got knowledge must be bold enough to come, if not for anything but for the sake of Malaysia.

We don’t want to force anybody. If you want to come, come, but if you don’t come, don’t complain. At the end of the day, we will write our report based on the materials that (are) made available to us. We will make our mind straight and we will do that.

They, ACA, will decide what is relevant, what is good and whether it helps us. If we are not satisfied, we need more, we can tell them ‘why can’t you give us this, why can’t you give us that...’.

- above from Malaysiakini, transcript of interview with Panel, 3.10.2007.


I say now, based on the above, go to the Independent Panel and give the evidence. The panel, based on the Evidence Act, will decide on its admissibility and call for the evidence. This will establish the authenticity of the tape. Datuk Shankar specifically mentioned the holder of the original video, the person who took the video, and others who saw what was happening to come forward. Come clean now and don't complain later!