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buy him.
The issue had now become too hot to handle. News of all the machinations had reached London, and both there and here there was a call for an independent in- vestigation. One Member of Parliament called for an early day Motion on the case in the House of Commons. The Governor had stated categorically that there would be no further investigation. But on the night before the early day Motion
was to be put before Parliament, the Member was informed by the Hong Kong Commissioner in London to restrain the Motion a Commission of Inquiry was to be set up at
once.
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from the time of this announcement and the setting up of the Commissioner of Inquiry in July 1980, there has been complete silence from the public until now, September 1981. With the matter sub-judice, everyone was successfully gagged. The Government is expert at using long inquiries under subjudice clampdowns to cool off any hot issue. Any other value the Commission may have had, except to silence public opinion, is in doubt.
The Inquiry produced a lot of filth and gutter material, as one witness
after another was brought forward to describe MacLennan's actions. Most, if not
all, of these witnesses contradicted themselves repeatedly and discredited their
own stories. Other sincere witnesses such as the Chief Inspector, and the law
officer who had been found in court with no case to answer, were mercilessly torn
to pieces in public, while the senior officials under suspicion of homosexuality
wore spared the ordeal completely. The Attorney-General appeared not to be a witness but to offer a wordy apologia, excusing all his actions. He answered no questions directly but skirted round them so as not to'commit himself to any direct admissions of error. I am accustomed to questioning people who come for help
in my Urban Council ward office, and I would dismiss a case like the Attorney-
General's as being too devious in reply. When one is speaking the truth one can
afford to be direct.
I personally was appalled at the scope of the Inquiry. My own view was that one trusted judge assisted by a lawyer and a clerk, similar to the Blair-Kerr
Inquiry on Godber's escape, would have been enough. By keeping his office open and his informers' names secret, Judge Blair-Kerr had been able to build up a solid foundation of knowledge on corruption in general and the Godber tase in particular. But the public enquiry on MacLennan, with all its publicity and paraphernalia in the
form of Counsel for this that and the other, out for scandal, it seemed, rather than truth, scared the subpoenaed witnesses and certainly prevented homosexual in-
formers coming forward voluntarily. In part it was more like gutter talk than a ser- ious judicial inquiry. It started off on the wrong footing when the first Counsel for the Commission began by making a statement that sounded like a direct quote from the Attorney-General's Annals. Even the Commissioner had to correct him when he kept referring the suicide note" as if the results of the inquiry were a foregone conclusion which some believe was to be the case anyhow. Fortunately that
Counsel had only a short reign and he was followed by one who made it clear that he was no one's running dog. Moreover he insisted on bringing in a squad of private
ANRESALANA