Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang is unconvinced that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Chief Justice Eusoff Chin could be so forgetful during the ongoing Lingam tape inquiry.

Lim said Malaysians were sad that top national leaders like the longest-serving prime minister and the former Chief Justice are “competing in selective amnesia” during their testimonies.

“A quick count showed that Mahathir said “I cannot remember” or its equivalent 14 times during his 90-minute testimony before the royal commission on Wednesday while Eusuff Chin said “I cannot remember” or its equivalent 18 times in his half-testimony yesterday.

“Malaysians do not believe that Mahathir has become so forgetful that he had to invoke the “I cannot remember” mantra 14 times in his short testimony.

“(This is especially so) when Mahathir is still famed for his (2001) poem Melayu Mudah Lupa. Is Mahathir proving himself right with his sudden forgetfulness?” said Lim in a statement today.

Elephant memory

Lim said Mahathir was one who was deemed publicly to have incredible analytical skills along with a elephant’s memory capable remembering in details what others cannot recall.

“This was illustrated by his mastery to recall effortlessly details of (International Trade and Industry Minister) Rafidah Aziz’s excesses in the AP (approved permits) scandal without any prodding.

“Mahathir is reputedly writing his memoirs presently which may take volumes. This is no task for a man with amnesiac memory,” he added.

Despite Eusoff having “out-forgotten” Mahathir, Lim believed that the most glaring part of the former chief justice’s testimony was regarding the latter’s New Zealand trip with VK Lingam.

In his testimony yesterday, Eusoff said it was a coincidence that he and Lingam were on the same holiday trip.

“It must be a one-in-a-billion case of coincidence for Eusoff when he was chief justice and senior lawyer Lingam and their families to get into the same flight from Singapore to Auckland, and then from Auckland to Christchurch, and to visit the same places in Auckland and Christchurch as well as return on the same flight,” remarked Lim.

NZ photographs

Furthermore, said Lim, pictures of Eusoff with Lingam in New Zealand had clearly shown that the former chief justice had placed his hands around the senior lawyer and not the other way around.

In Eusoff’s testimony, he said Lingam had insisted on taking photographs with him during their New Zealand trip and may have took between five to 10 photographs.

Eusoff claimed that he had “bumped into” Lingam on the way to New Zealand and also admitted sharing a van with the lawyer during the trip and they had split the fare.

The former chief justice also claimed that he first got to know Lingam around 1990 when the lawyer handled a case in his court in Kuala Lumpur.

Lim concluded that the inquiry thus far had damaged the reputation a lot of prominent people due to their own mistakes.

“It is not because of any probing questions by the commissioners or the lawyers, but by the missteps and refusal to come clean and true by the important witnesses,” summed up Lim.

The inquiry continues on Monday with Eusoff as a witness.