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Buzz: Honest to God
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
By ANTHONY SPAETH
July
24, 2000
Web posted at 2:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 2:30 a.m. EDT
Hong Kong has a pretty good scandal going. A fairly obscure academic says the territory's boss, Tung Chee-wah, sent him (via a third party) a message to stop publishing unflattering opinion polls -- or else. Tung says he did no such thing. The two university vice-chancellors who allegedly passed along the threat say they did no such thing. The only certainty is that somebody is a big fat liar, or possibly a few somebodys.
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Many scandals start out this way, and the constant hope is that the lying party will inevitably be exposed. In Hong Kong, for example, there are calls for the appointment of an independent investigative team to get to the bottom of the mystery. But what is the track record? When two public parties stand on opposite sides of an unspannable credibility gap, does the truth always prevail?
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One of the great, recent precedents suggests not. When Clarence
Thomas was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991, his former
colleague, Anita Hill, accused him of testosteronic behavior that
even shocked the sailors. He allegedly came on to her, talked dirty
and even asked her once who had left a pubic hair on his Coke can
-- a seduction technique unknown before that time and, one imagines,
too complicated to have been used much since. All the lurid details
came out in Thomas's confirmation hearings. The result: he became
a justice of the Supreme Court and Hill, either a terrible victim
or one of the most inventive liars of her time, went onto a career
as a popular talk show host. Take that, truth!
In the Philippines, former First Lady Imelda Marcos was accused
of raiding the public coffers, decorating the presidential palace
in execrable taste and actually liking Hollywood actor George Hamilton.
When she fled Manila in 1986 with husband Ferdinand, she left behind
2,000 pairs of shoes, which was considered a lot in that decade.
Imelda said she did it all for the Philippine people, although her
defense on paper was more complicated, consisting of heart symbols
and happy faces put together in pseudo-mathematical equations. But
it got her off racketeering charges in New York and today she is
a Philippine Senator while George Hamilton is working with comic-book
king Stan Lee on the Internet. Just desserts for both, you might
say. But what happened to the truth?
In Japan, meanwhile, the Economic Planning Agency says the country
is pulling out of its recession. Uh, whatever. These days, the biggest
credibility gap resides in Kuala Lumpur. Former Deputy Prime Minister
Anwar Ibrahim has been accused of illegal sexual activity and abuse
of power, charges that lost him his job. Anwar says the charges
are trumped up by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as part of a conspiracy
to destroy his political life.
Anwar's fate contrasts with all the other precedents listed above.
He ended up in jail, where he was beaten while blindfolded and handcuffed
-- remember the black eye? A Malaysian court has already sentenced
him to six years in jail for abuse of power and another judge is
soon to render a verdict on sodomy charges. In Anwar's case, a formal
resolution of who is telling the truth is assured. The verdict is
expected on or around August 4. Stay tuned!
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