The deliberate and calculated nature of Rahim Noor’s assault of Anwar when he was first arrested and taken to the Bukit Aman Police lock-up on the night of Sept. 20, 1998 to cause grievous hurt could be seen not only from the injuries suffered by Anwar, which medical evidence at the Royal Commission of Inquiry said could be fatal, but also by Rahim’s instruction for Anwar to be handcuffed and blindfolded before he entered the lock-up.
It is not adequate for the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah to let it be known that the reduction of the charge was at the request of the defence, when the original charge under Section 325 read together with Section 511 of the Penal Code was recommended by the Royal Commission of Inquiry which included the former Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Anuar Zainal Abidin and former Court of Appeal judge Datuk M Shankar and assisted by former Attorney-General Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman.
Malaysians must be satisfied that the Attorney-General has good and proper reasons which can stand up to public scrutiny as to why he had reduced the charge which had been recommended by the Royal Commission of Inquiry and to which he had himself agreed when Rahim Noor was first brought to court.
The Attorney-General is not above the law and must submit himself to the principle of public accountability. The Government must make this Ministerial statement for the sake of public accountability, justice and good governance so as to allay the nation-wide outrage at the leniency of the treatment of Rahim Noor as compared to Anwar Ibrahim and to assure the nation and the world that there is no selective justice or selective prosecution in the country.
(16/3/2000)