I’m already guilty, why appeal? - Mahathir

sun2surf - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today he would not seek judicial review of the findings by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip.

Instead, the former prime minister said, he was prepared to go to the court.

"I am already guilty. Because of the basis of the Royal Commission, if something is possible, then it must have happened if it is possible. Because it was possible that I was influenced by Lingam therefore I must be influenced by Lingam. This is the new criteria for evidence in the court of law. So I am guilty already. So what’s good of my appealing?" he said.

Mahathir said he had to submit to this new standard that was prevailing in this country.

He was asked to comment whether he would seek judicial review just as former minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam did recently.

Mahathir was speaking to reporters after attending the launching of "Smart Growth", a book written by Prof Salleh Buang, by his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali in the Perdana Leadership Foundation here.

Asked whether he was guilty as charged, Mahathir replied cynically: "Guilty as judge. There are brilliant people on the royal commission. There are judges, experienced judges who said that it is possible that I was influenced, therefore I must be investigated."

"I am not going to appeal. I am going to attend court," he said... selanjutnya.