Truth, nothing but the truth

HISTORY repeats itself – for good or bad – in mysterious ways. A gust of wind or even a breath of air can wipe away the dust and uncover the hidden, the forgotten, the secreted and the veiled.
How paradoxical will a tale told 10 years ago resurface in the momentous of times of a fallen man? How ironic that anecdote acted out to justify status has returned to haunt one who used to be the hunter seeking trophies in a concrete, commercial world?
Coincidence or otherwise, the much vaunted and audacious effort to self-epitomise one's self is now the penultimate act in a drama that has been played out at three different judicial authorities.
On Tuesday, when former Selangor Mentri Besar Mohd Khir Toyo made the impassioned yet tearful plea from the dock, the circumstances were different. He was no longer lording over the "fully developed state" as he had charmed his disbelieving subjects 10 years earlier.
Not that the Sword of Damocles was hanging over his head, but a sojourn with common criminals – murderers, conmen, cheats and felons – appears in the horizon.
If the offer of providing free dental service could be mistaken for bordering on being foolhardy, then what preceded was preposterous to say the least.
Malaysiakini quoted him as saying that he had developed the state to international standard which had been recognised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where in his eight years as MB he had pulled in annual investments of RM13.8 billion in 2008 alone, compared to RM6 billion in 2000.
This what he told the court: "Saya telah berjaya membangunkan Selangor menjadi negeri maju dengan international standard. Di mana negeri maju itu telah disah dan dibuat kajian oleh IMAF, International Management of Sweden recognised Selangor maju dan IMF telah keluarkan buku yang menjadi panduan untuk pelabur-pelabur."
But that's where the wheat has to be separated from the chaff. The truth has to be told in the public interest and in the interest of justice. These figures and the "recognition" were picked from thin air and the archives can provide anecdotal and dependable data to back this.
Khir had taken umbrage at theSun's coverage that the "fully developed state" title bestowed on Selangor was flawed and the whole exercise questionable.
On June 29, 2005, we wrote: "Selangor was never awarded the 'fully developed state' title by any independent body. Contrary to claims by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo that the state achieved such status on a study by the National Productivity Corporation (NPC) and two other institutions of higher learning based on a 'world competitive' model designed by a Swiss institute, theSun learnt that the whole exercise is questionable.
"First, the Swiss-based IMD World Competitive Centre has disavowed any links to the survey, saying it had only a ranking for Malaysia and did not cover Selangor Second, the NPC said it merely carried out a survey and compared it with 29 other countries with a population of less than 20 million. And third, the title 'fully developed state' never existed and has never been awarded by the Swiss institute or the NPC. The NPC just used the Swiss model to collate information. Besides, the methodology and the sample used by the NPC have now come under scrutiny and appear flawed."
If this did not get across the naïve and the prejudiced, the letter from Suzanne Rosselet-McCauley, senior economist at the IMD World Competitiveness Centre Swiss Institute spoke for itself:
"I must admit to being very surprised for two reasons: first, we do not cover the state of Selangor in the WCY (World Competitiveness Centre) rankings, only Malaysia, even though we do include other regional economies, such as Zhejiang, China; or Maharashtra, India; and our rankings are based on 60 economies, not 30. Second, with a Google search, I came across the announcement that you refer to and the article mentions ranking positions that do not correspond to any rankings that we have for Malaysia. So I have no idea where they are getting these numbers from. I have contacted our partner institute in Malaysia, the National Productivity Corporation, to ask them if they have any idea who is at the source of these rankings."
(The then NPC deputy director-general (I) Dr Ab Wahab Muhamad said invitations were sent out by the Selangor Economic Planning Board (Upen) to 191 representatives in the manufacturing and services sectors – public and private – to attend a seminar where they were asked to to answer a questionnaire called the "Competitiveness of Selangor State – Executive Opinion Survey 2004".
"We never said that Selangor is a fully developed state," he said, adding that the collated results were sent to Upen.
Despite such strong assertions, Khir and Selangor spent large sums of money "celebrating" the "achievement", well aware that the whole thing was nothing but a farce.
Even editors, cowed by self-interests, joined the chorus against theSun and allowed their space to be used to spew half-truths and untruths. Supplements were published in newspapers glorifying the state and souvenir supplies made a small fortune supplying umbrellas, pens, etc, with the words: "Selangor Maju" emblazoned on them.
It is not this writer's or this newspaper's business to dissect and scrutinise mitigation pleas from convicted people. The competent authority is the court and we don't seek to influence them or prejudice the case of the convicted person.
As people with the facts and figures, there is an inherent sense of duty, and responsibility is owed to the people of this country. This and nothing else has prompted us to make public what is within our knowledge.
We would be committing injustice if we continued to remain silent in the wake of the statements which have been made in open court.