(Petaling Jaya, Monday): The country is still reeling from the shock waves following the admission by former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor through his lawyer at the Royal Commission of Inquiry yesterday that he had assaulted the former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while in the Bukit Aman police lock-up on Sept. 20, although he claimed that this was as a result of provocation by Anwar.
Although the admission had not come as a complete shock and surprise, as a huge segment of the population had already suspected that only Rahim Noor could have laid his hands on Anwar Ibrahim in Bukit Aman, the shock and outrage was no less intense and overwhelming when the identity of the attacker was finally confirmed yesterday.
I had said when the Royal Commission of Inquiry started its inquiry on Feb. 22 that "The entire police high command is on trial" and this is what is really happening now.
While the Royal Commission of Inquiry has still to establish the full circumstances of the assault on Anwar and the immediate aftermath of the assault, public focus has taken on a new dimension, how the police high-command had succeeded in covering up and stalling a full expose of the police assault on Anwar for four months.
When Rahim Noor takes the witness stand at the Royal Commission of Inquiry, he would be required to explain why after assaulting Anwar on Sept. 20, he could lie to the people, the nation and the world and claimed on Sept. 24 that Anwar was "safe and sound".
Rahim Noor should also explain whether he had misled the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad into making the outrageous comment that Anwar’s "black eyes" and other injuries could have been self-inflicted to "receive much mileage if he can show that he had been tortured by police".
DAP calls on Cabinet on Wednesday to expand the scope of the Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine why and how there had been a four-month cover-up of the lawlessness in the very inner sanctum of police high command in Bukit Aman over Anwar’s black eye and other injuries while under police custody and to make recommendations as to what measures need to be taken to restore the battered image of the police and public confidence, which is at a all-time historic low for the police.
(1/3/99)