Malaysian political elite rarely brought to trial. Why?

Rais may have broken his silence and refuted the allegations of rape made by his previous Indonesian maid. But why did he take a long two weeks to come up with a weak retort?

Anyone who has been raped knows what it is like to be at the receiving end of intimidation, violence and exploitation. Life after the event is a struggle. Many become depressed. A few contemplate suicide. They feel shame and humiliation. Perhaps, Rais now knows what it is like to have a dose of his own medicine. Shame. Humiliation. Loss of respect. Anger.

What really happened in those crucial two weeks, from when a blogger regurgitated the rape allegations that had first surfaced in 2007 till the time Rais responded?

Most people became aware of the rape only now. Why did we sit up and take notice only when Wikileaks told us so?

Why was Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak silent in the two weeks when the allegations against his Minister were building up to a crescendo?

Only when it got to a breaking point did Najib finally say something and even then his words were tantamount to nothing. If anything, he defended his minister in his usual lukewarm sort of way that raises more questions than it answers.

"We cannot prejudge and pronounce something against someone before proper investigation is done. In any case, what happened was in 2007, the question is why bring it up now," the media reported Najib as saying.

But what did Najib really mean when he said "we cannot prejudge" and then in the next breath confirmed that it "happened in 2007".

Surely a good leader would want to clear the air, not add to the confusion just to protect his charges. Is this the kind of person Najib would want in his Cabinet? Is this the type of leader we desire?

No, Najib did nothing to defend his Minister. Najib did nothing to protect us - the voters.

Perhaps Najib feels Rais is like a millstone round his neck. The General Election and a by-election, are around the corner and Najib has his own troubles to deal with.

Another curious thing is how none of Rais’s Cabinet rallied round to defend him. Maybe they think he is guilty? Maybe they are also afraid of their own behinds.

Even more curious is how none of his family members, even his beloved wife have come out to support him.

In those two weeks, no one was prepared to stand up for Rais.

But someone somewhere must know something.

Another maid, perhaps, tried to pacify her raped colleague. A security guard might have heard the commotion in the Rais household. A family member might have inadvertently stumbled on the tell tale signs. An aide could have seen or heard something. A colleague of the alleged rapist might have had to listen to the boasts of the perpetrator. Nothing in Malaysia is that confidential.

Curiously, the maid has made a serious allegation against her former employer and yet he remains resolutely silent – for two weeks. Is he not interested in clearing his name?

These allegations have been circling the globe and yet it has failed to illicit any response from our police. Police reports have been made and yet nothing has been heard about the outcome of these.

The silence of Rais’s colleagues in the Cabinet make Rais appear guilty. Are they too cowardly to spell this out.

But for Wikileaks, the world would not have known.

The world is a different place from what is was like two decades ago. Back then, crimes like these would have been suppressed. No one would have known. Rapists and other criminals escape justice. The privileged are rarely brought to trial. Impunity for the politically powerful and rich in Malaysia is a way of life.

Perhaps, not for much longer. - Malaysia Chronicle