(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): At long last, the Commission of Inquiry into Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim�s assault case has been officially constituted, with the members of the Commission of Inquiry receiving the letters of appointment yesterday.
The Commission has been given two terms of reference, viz:
Last Wednesday, even before the official establishment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry, former Attorney-General Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, who will be leading the investigations, said that the commission was prepared to begin its proceedings as early as February 22 "provided all adminstrative arrangements can be made".
Now that the Commission of Inquiry has been officially established with the issue of the letters of appointment to the members, the Commission should formally confirm that it would begin public hearings on February 22.
The Parliamentary Opposition proposes to send an official observer to the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry, which should also welcome interested national and internaitonal organisations who wish to send observers to its public hearings.
However, there must not only be justice for Anwar Ibrahim but also for all Malaysians who are victims of police brutalities and even police shoot-outs and this is why the DAP is calling for the establishment of a second Royal Commission of Inquiry into all other cases of police brutalities, including police shoot-outs.
The two most glaring cases of police shoot-outs are firstly, the incident on Oct. 2 last year where the police shot dead five suspected kidnappers, including an eight-months pregnant woman N. Selvamalar, 31, at Taman Sungai Besi Indah in Kuala Lumpur after a RM3 million ransom was paid for the release of the 11-year-old son of former Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib.
The second incident was the shoot-out in Tumpat on Oct. 3 in which six men, including an MIC division youth chief, were shot dead.
Although there was a nation-wide outrage at these two police shoot-outs last October causing 11 deaths, the public are still kept in the dark about the outcome of police investigations more than four months after both incidents.
DAP MPs will raise these two police shoot-outs which involved 11 deaths in the next meeting of Parliament to demand full accountability from the police.
(6/2/99)