Mohtar Abdullah  should be concerned about the long delay in police investigation into Anwar’s black-eye rather than an incorrect report that police inquiries have been completed and submitted to him


Media Statement 
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): The Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah was very angry yesterday, personally signing a statement vehemently denying a press report that his office has received a report from the special team investigating former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that he was beaten up while in police custody at Bukit Aman.

Mohtar said in a strongly-worded statement that his office will lodge a police report against The Star for publishing false news.

Mohtar’s vehement reaction raised eyebrows, both nationally and internationally, for what should  concerned him most as Attorney-General  should be  the long delay in the police investigation into Anwar’s black-eye and bruises while in police custody rather than an incorrect press report that police inquiries have been completed and submitted to him.

The Attorney-General has got his sense of priorities all wrong when he is more obsessed by an incorrect press report clearly made in good faith, wanting to launch a prosecution over it for "false news", when what should incense him most is the manifest injustice at the inordinate delay over police investigations into Anwar’s "black eye" which has caused such great damage to Malaysia’s reputation, both nationally and internationally.

Mohtar told the New Straits Times today that he did not have the authority to speed up police investigations into Anwar "black-eye" and it was improper for him to instruct the police to speed up their investigations.

This has intensified the mystery surrounding the police investigations into Anwar’s allegations of police brutality against him on the first night of his arrest on September 20, why the police is taking such an inordinately long time, now for more than  one-and-a-half-months, to complete investigations into a very straightforward case, when Anwar was completely in police custody in Bukit Aman lock-up!

There had earlier been a flurry of contradictory statements by the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor, and the Malaysian public are still completely in the dark about the identity of the members of the "independent police investigation team" into Anwar’s black-eye; how  the police can credibly establish  an "independent police investigation team" into allegations of police brutality against Anwar when the police is itself the subject of the accusation; why the government and police had rejected calls for a  completely independent inquiry board without any police participation to regain public confidence and establish the integrity of the police force.

The Malaysian public are now told that the independent police investigation team is not answerable to the Inspector-General of Police or even to the Prime Minister in his capacity as Home Minister.  The Attorney-General said yesterday that he had no authority to ask the independent police investigation team to speed up its investigations.  Who then is responsible for the independent police investigation team?

It would appear that nobody is now responsible for the independent police investigations team and there is nobody to turn to if the team sits on its investigation indefinitely.

This is most ridiculous and unacceptable situation because everyone is trying to "pass the buck" over Anwar’s black-eye. The Malaysian public are entitled to know why the special police investigation team into Anwar’s black-eye is taking such an inordinately long time, who are the members of the team, and whether it is true and believable that the Inspector-General of Police and the Prime Minister are not responsible whatsoever for the conduct of the special police investigations team - to the extent that they know nothing about the police investigations.

(7/11/98)


*Lim Kit Siang - Malaysian Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Democratic Action Party Secretary-General & Member of Parliament for Tanjong