Dear Yang Berhormat,

I take the liberty of writing to you because as one of your former teachers at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar I both know you and remember you as one of the most promising and open-minded students that it has ever been my privilege to teach. Of course, this does not give me the right to claim any special relationship with you, but it does mean that I have been able to follow your political career since you left MCKK and recognise the same traits of open-mindedness and idealism that characterised your attitudes as a student. 

For this reason I am all the more appalled by the crisis that has now over-taken you. 

However, I am not writing this letter to you in an attempt to give you a character reference or to defend you against the charges that have been levelled against you. Nor do I write in order to take sides in any debate on economic policy in which you may have been involved. I am not in a position to comment on these things. 

I am writing to you simply to express my utter revulsion and disgust at the manner in which you have been hounded from your position in the Government and in UMNOP. It has been a nauseating experience to witness not your peremptory dismissal from office - that is a legitimate risk which all politicians must be prepared to face - but the concerted attempt which is being made through the media to destroy you as a person even before you have been given the chance to defend yourself. 

I recall how a few years ago, when calls were raised for the Chief Minister of Melaka to be stripped of his powers and position because of certain accusations brought against him, the Prime Minister prevented this by declaring that a man should be considered innocent until proven otherwise. I admired the Prime Minister's stand on that occasion. But the same principle does not appear to have been applied in your case. 

I believe that my feelings of dismay and disgust at the way you are being treated are shared by many Malaysians regardless of race or political affiliation. If one of the most powerful figures in the land can be degraded and humiliated in such a swift, biased and twisted fashion, what hope is there for the rest of us ordinary citizens of this country? 

What hope indeed is there for our country if this is how political power is exercised? 

I conclude with the fervent prayer that in the end true justice will be done and that you will be vindicated. 

D. J. Muzaffar Tate