I refer to Malaysiakini report Tempting whistleblower with plastic surgery .

I believe that we have the biggest number of clowns and jokers in our cabinet. The biggest, of course, being de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Aziz.

He alone had created a number of blunders and the latest was his offer to allow the whistleblower in the Lingam case to undergo cosmetic surgery. Oop! I have just forgotten. Nazri is the one who even suggest whether ink stain on voters finger in the coming election is allowed in Islam for the purpose of prayer. Thus a fatwa was issued on this. Now, Nazri, here lies another stupid blunder. Is cosmetic surgery allowed in this particular case?

Why is the authority making authenticating the obvious so difficult? To me, if the images depict the lawyer in question is genuine and the voices are his and not being dubbed, it is already established the event was true.

We can learn from the Americans. When Osama bin Laden tape recording was released on TV, the FBI did not hunt down the person who did the recording to testify that the recording was authentic. Nor did they interrogate the TV personnel who broadcast it.

To authenticate it, all they did was to establish that the images and voice belongs to Osama.

Now the case in question was even easier. Since the alleged speaker on the telephone is alive and in the country - just get him to deny or own up the images and voices on the recording. Better still, get the FBI to help out in this case just as the police are willing to do it in Nurin's case.

Why go to the extent of frightening the whistleblowers with jail terms? Why kill a small fly using a sledge hammer?