There may be great interest, with journalists and TV crews flying in from everywhere. So why would anyone want to suggest that such an event will be cancelled at the last minute, that some specious reason will be given?

The event is a court trial; a court trial in which the government will attempt to prove that an event occurred. The government now knows that there are literally hundreds of witnesses who are prepared to testify that what the government alleges happened didn't happen at all. They are prepared to say it was all a drama, a sandiwara.

Notice there is no violation of the government's request not to discuss the case, though they have certainly discussed it fully enough. The government just cannot afford to bungle another one. There is too much at stake. Men have been killed. If the event did not occur as alleged, then the question of who killed the men must be answered.

The minister of defence asked, "Do you think we would allow two (four) men to be killed just to make this event appear credible?" He doesn't want to hear the answer to his question. The question, however, is a pertinent one. It is highly likely that it will become a major point in the trial itself.

Because there are so many witnesses who will come forward to rebut the fantastic tales given out to the media at the scene, the case will generate anger and resentment sufficient to guarantee defeat of the Umno-BN coalition in the coming elections. Should it become known that the men were actually executed in a deliberate manner during the transaction of a staged event, on orders by government ministers, the reaction throughout the country will be strong for immediate arrest and trial for all found to be responsible.

The trial date has been set because the government feels there are no witnesses to tell the truth of what actually happened, and that all those who do know the truth have been intimidated. Because they now know they are wrong in this belief, and have found that the number of witnesses is too large to deal with, the trial will never take place.

That means that the defendants now incarcerated will not get a speedy hearing, and their pleas of not guilty will not be heard. There will be endless postponements, and certainly nothing will occur before the elections in Sarawak in the Spring. The men who are jailed falsely are doomed to suffer an oblivion in Malaysian prisons in furtherance of the political machinations of the Umno-BN party.

One of the men was from Sarawak. Although every effort has been made to assuage the suspicions of the people of Sarawak, with large gifts of money, posthumous promotions, appearances by the prime minister and deputy prime minister, still the suspicion is strong.

Two battalions of the army have been transferred to Sarawak without a plausible reason. This was expensive. Whose idea was it? It only contributes to the growing feeling that the answer to the defence minister's question is a resounding, "Yes!"