People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.
– Otto von Bismarck
The Polygraph Machine Xray (PMX) function is a fine-tuned, desirable and a reliable lie-detector, which is guaranteed to explode when a pathological liar walks by it. Many politicians fear that encounter.
Sadly, Bismarck failed to intellectually dissect the truth that lies spewed after an election are a terrifying tornado compared to the soothing pre-election balmy breeze.
The PMX is usually calibrated for ensnaring and exposing charlatans. These machines proficiently react to concealments which are a nothing but sophisticated lies and deceptions that sound pleasingly acceptable.
Such machines have exploded in countless occasions, so much so that their aides make sure they will not encounter any during their ceremonial ceramahs. Monologues and dialogues trigger the PMX’s blinding searchlights.
Booker T. Washington remarked that “a lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good just because it is accepted by a majority.”
The tyranny of the majority silences the PMX for a spell during elections. If a million people vote bad persons into leadership positions, who bears the blame?
Lying is acceptable as the primary nature in the business of politics. And the strangest thing about it is that the liar and the listener are equally aware that the PMX is on full alert.
Winston Churchill had an interesting angle: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Coming from a politician, that’s a mouthful.
If lying is a psychological impediment that impairs a sound mind, then most politicians will not qualify as legislators under Article 48 (a) Federal Constitution.
And then, there is the wooden lie: “Trespassers will be prosecuted” is known to legal scholars as a “wooden lie”. For although trespassers may well be sued, mere trespass on open land is not generally a criminal matter.
Bald-faced lies are those that catches a witness to a murder caught on CCTV. The judge and jury watched the footage. When asked by the prosecutor whether he did witness the murder, the witness says “no” because he fears reprisals.
Plato claimed in the Republic that rulers of a just society must promulgate “noble” lies to promote social harmony among the masses, but he also condemned the Sophists’ cavalier attitude towards truth.
For almost two thousand years we have dolefully accepted and endorsed western thought and philosophy. Eastern thought and philosophy go beyond ten thousand years.
Politicians will jump at this proposition – the noble lie – and justify every wrong, and venture further to claim that reason is the most naïve of all superstitions. Usually, they get away with it.
The advertising industry packages lies in a sophisticated manner being well-attired between exaggeration and misleading. They also claim they are not intending to deceive.
St. Augustine of Hippo believed that lying was impermissible, but he believed it was allowable when avoiding the truth, a notion that Thomas Aquinas endorsed.
The Dutch philosopher and lawyer Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) taught that a lie is not really wrong if the person being lied to has no right to the truth. This stemmed from his idea that what made a wrong or unjust action wrong was that it violated someone else’s rights.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, we have our version of lies, deception, misleading tales and exaggerations. The artful style of concealing the truth has been perfected since 1981 when a Machiavellian maverick roamed the halls of power.
When it comes to concealing the truth, our Official Secrets Act 1972 prohibits the dissemination of information classified as an official secret. This is further fortified by Article 43(6) Federal Constitution requiring ministers to take an oath of secrecy.
The PMX is neutralised when honouring secrets is constitutionally and legislatively protected in law, at law, by law, and under law. This is wholly worrisome when concealing a fact that can lead to the truth is classified.
Surprisingly, a former jailed prime minister failed to invoke Article 43(6) as a defence strategy that all the moneys that were allegedly stolen for private use enjoyed constitutional secrecy. After all, he took an oath of secrecy.
The PMX exploded when the US Department of Justice heaped all the blame on the former prime minister as if Goldman Sacks was the Lone Ranger without a Tonto.
The sounds of the massive explosion allegedly reverberated all over the world. Media reports said all eyes were on Malaysia as if other known kleptocrats avoided walking into a PMX function.
Concealment is well defined in civil law as the act of intentionally or unintentionally not revealing information that should be disclosed and would otherwise affect the terms or creation of a contract.
Purposeful misrepresentation or withholding of material facts is concealment. Nullifying the contract is justified where the information could not have been known by the other party, and it is known to be material by the concealing party.
Leaders must realise that truth does not mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged. Thankfully, sections 192, 193, 195 and 209 of the Malaysian Penal Code offer reliable lubrication for the PMX.
PMX explosions are rarely mentioned in our media reports. The freedom of the press takes on the contours of a naked lie. Unfair and unconscionable to suffocate the Federal Constitution as a document of prevarication.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
