The Truth and Nothing but the Truth

I got this idea of this post from one of the Evidence I attended recently. One of the main topics that we discussed were the use of oath in ensuring the truth by the witness. It kinda triggered me to remember an old discussion I had on the matter many years back and reliased, that the question on the truth never was limited to issues of law but life as well.

In life, every one of us lie, and that is the honest truth. Problem is that sometimes not many of us would admit that sometimes our lies may hurt others more than you think it would, masking it to what we all know as "White Lies". So much that it is now an accepted norm, especially in our society in Malaysia. However, what about the after effects of it?


Example 1 : Relationships
The main source of most lies would come from. Be it marriage, boyfriend/girlfriend, flings, etc, we all have our skeletons to hide and we do it by "not telling the entire truth". Truth is that in the end, one party will always be hurt in this situation and it will cost at least someone some form of grief. Problem is that until that day happens to us personally, we would dismiss it as "not being too important". Perhaps that it is the need for us to be aware of our partner's feelings that we, in the end, resort to lies to make sure that it stays that way. Ironically that we use a dirty move to protect an innocent reasoning...


Example 2: Politics
Perhaps one of the most talked about topics in town today, especially here in Malaysia. Everyone knows that the usual perception with a career in politics would be marred by the "necessity" to lie. Right now, the major issues we have are politicians that are jumping out of the original parties, accusations that politician are not keeping their promise to the rakyat, and even accusations that parties are not keeping to the memorandum that they promised during the early days of their campaign. As much as it has become a norm in the business to lie, but I suspect that some may have forgotten something

It hurts the rakyat to see what they were told and believed the fight that the politicians of their choice were mere "campaigning words".


Lets face it, I am no saint myself. I lie to my teeth to get me places, and I am about to embark in a career that the general public joke as the"last people to enter heaven". Which my session in class today got me thinking, has the sanctity of the truth no longer exist in the general public, or are we only left with the truth existing only in the eyes and mind of a child.

Even that, the law still doubts the credibility of truth from children.

As I was told in class, the Malaysian law takes caution when taking a child as a witness. Reasoning?
As stipulated in Chao Chong's case, the courts percieve that a child would find it difficult to differenciate between fantasy and reality. The fact that there are too much outside factors that might effect the reasoning of a child questions the credibility of a child as a witness.

However, would this same perception hold its ground to children today? Is there a need for change on this matter? I need opinions on this...

In the end, perhaps that most of us would realise that the truth might hurt and sometimes it is easier for one to lie and cut loose any other difficulties of explaining ourselves out of trouble. Problem is, how many would actually see the effects of a "white lie"?

Nang if you like this post guys. Thanks!