Witnesses recall Anwar’s arrest
by Andrew Ong, malaysiakini, 18 July
Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim had not ruled out the possibility of being arrested. But what he had not expected was for masked policemen to ambush his car on the way home.
Around 9am on Wednesday, the charismatic politician looking sharp in a brown blazer smiled and waved to reporters camped outside his house as he left for the Anti-Corruption Agency headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Little did Anwar know that he would not be able to make it back home for lunch.
“It was drizzling when he left the house, and for superstitious people that is a bad omen,” said Nanyang Siang Pau photographer Tan Yik Long who was there that morning.
Recounting what happened, Anwar’s lawyer Sankara Nair, who was in the car with the politician, said: “By about 10.10am, we arrived at Putrajaya and soon after, Anwar was giving his statements to three officers.”
Slightly more than an hour later, Anwar requested the ACA officers to put on record that he would like to continue the interview at another time because he had a 2pm appointment with the police.
Anwar had an appointment at the police headquarters to have his statement recorded over sodomy allegations made by his former aide Saiful Bukhary Azlan.
“We told them of the appointment and why we can’t proceed… the officers recorded our request and we promised to come back on Monday,” said the lawyer.
Masked commandos
As he left the ACA building, Anwar was mobbed by scores of reporters and photographers seeking his comments.
The politician obliged and even joked about his suggestion to ACA to continue the interview “at the police compound” if he was arrested.
He then left Putrajaya at about 11.45am, heading back to his house.
“Anwar felt that he should go home and refresh himself, pray and see his family because he was afraid that there would be an arrest,” said Sankara.
What the politician did not know was that a team of police personnel, including members of the elite unit, were waiting to pounce on him at a junction a stone’s throw away from his house in Bukit Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.
It was 12.45pm. The heavy police presence puzzled Sankara as he had just got off the phone with investigating officer DSP Jude Pereira, confirming that Anwar would be at the police headquarters by 2pm.
“We didn’t get out of the car. We waited for them to approach. An officer approached as I wound down the window… I ask what this was all about,” said the lawyer.
The police officer, known only as Taufek, informed Anwar that he was arrested and be brought to the police headquarters.
Anwar’s driver for 25 years, Abdullah Sani Said, recalled that there were 20 police personnel and some of them were sporting balaclava masks.
He too was puzzled at the need for the arrest and was certain that he could have ferried his boss on time for the 2pm appointment.
Sankara however stressed that Anwar was not handcuffed or manhandled during the incident.
‘He looked schocked’
At this juncture, Tan arrived at the scene by chance and was stopped by traffic police personnel.
“I saw Anwar outside his car and I rushed on foot and just started shooting pictures,” said the photographer, who managed to capture exclusive photos of the arrest.
“He (Anwar) looked shocked and fearful. He was hesitant to get into the police vehicle,” he said, adding that the incident ended in less than a minute.
The balaclava-clad police refused to let Sankara to go with Anwar.
Tan had been camping outside Anwar’s residence since 5am and bumped into the police convoy while he was leaving the area after his shift had ended.
anwar ibrahim freed from police ipk detention pc 170708 waving”I was lucky that the police did not confiscate my camera to stop me from taking photos,” he said.
Anwar was then taken to the police headquarters where he was grilled for several hours. After this, he was taken to the Kuala Lumpur hospital but refused to provide a DNA sample or undergo a full medical examination.
He was then brought back to the police headquarters where he spent the night and was released the next morning.
The police defended the manner in which the opposition icon was arrested because they had reason to believe that he would not come by 2pm, but critics have dismissed it as an unnecessary show of force.
“It was drizzling when he left the house, and for superstitious people that is a bad omen,” said Nanyang Siang Pau photographer Tan Yik Long who was there that morning.
This is nothing but nonsense. Even if the sun were shining, Anwar would still be arrested.
This is why people must not be superstitious. Otherwise important actions will be postposed due to nonsensical superstitious omens and portents. In the long run, people will lose because they don’t act when logical reasoning tell them they should.
Comment by Liang1a — Saturday, 19-07-2008 @ 12: 13.07
All this is nothing more than to collect evidence from Anwar’s person such as blood sample, hair, skin follicles, etc. Don’t be surprised if the police suddenly announce they now have DNA evidence “taken from Saiful” to link Anwar to the crime.
Another reason why this arrest was made is to distract Anwar from his effort to win a seat in the parliament and ultimately become the PM by motivating some 30 BN MPs to skip over to PR. Anwar must not be distract. He must remain focused on the most important task at hand which is to become the PM.
As it is, the more the police harassed Anwar the more sympathy the people will have for him. And the more the police examine and poke at Anwar, the more it becomes clear that the police have no evidence taken from Saiful but is trying hard to pick something off Anwar’s body to frame him. After this, even if the police claim they have physical evidence, it is no longer believable. It will only make the people even more angry at the detestable corruption and evil of the police.
People must also remember that the top cop and the top prosecuter in Malaysia now are the very same cop who investigated Anwar and beat him up in the process and the attorney who prosecuted him in the first sodomy trial. These two now have even more incentives to frame Anwar because he is sueing them for the police brutality and corruption in the first sodomy case. These two should be put on administrative leave until the case is over due to conflict of interest.
Comment by Liang1a — Saturday, 19-07-2008 @ 12: 29.31
America should condemn this obvious and brazen violation of human rights. America should also condemn the neo-apartheid ketuanan Melayu or Malay supremacy. Previously MCA and MIC were henchmen of UMNO and denied there were any marginalization of the Chinese and the Indians. These MCA and MIC dogs supported and defended the NEP as social contract and affirmative action. But now under the DAP and PKR, the Chinese and Indian MPs are finally speaking out and condemning the racist dogma of Malay supremacy. I hope America, China, India, UK, and all democratic countries will speak up and condemn the neo-apartheid NEP and racist Malay supremacy for what they are - loathsome barbaric violation of democracy.
Comment by Liang1a — Saturday, 19-07-2008 @ 16: 53.50
The PM responded thus when asked of the need for the authorities to take a DNA sample again after they had taken one 10 years ago when Anwar was then accused of sodomy.
“If he has not done anything, than provide a sample. Do it. I want to see it.
Let’s see the result which could prove that he did not do it,” he told reporters.
The above was a quote from another news article. Badawi was asked why it was necessary to take another sample when one was already taken 10 years ago and the result should still be on file. Badawi replied in a non sequitur. I don’t know whether he is stupid or whether he was being evasive. Badawi evaded the question and did not give a reason why a new sample is needed even though the test result of the old sample is presumably still on file. Instead he said the result of the new DNA sample will prove if he (Anwar) did not do it. But how can the new sample prove Anwar did not do it if the old sample could not since both samples should be identical? Furthermore, the question is not whether the new sample will prove Anwar innocent but whether the sample will be planted on Saiful to prove Anwar guilty. And lastly, if any DNA was found on Saiful and presumably belonging to Anwar, then the police could have already matched it to Anwar’s old sample. And if the two matched, then that would be sufficient evidence to arrest Anwar. But since the police is still asking for a new sample from Anwar, it is obvious that either there were no blood sample taken from Saiful, or the blood sample taken from Saiful did not match Anwar’s old sample.
But the latter assumption cannot stand because Saiful specifically accused Anwar as his molester. Therefore, if any blood sample were found on Saiful then it must match Anwar’s old blood sample and the police would have had their proof to arrest Anwar. But since the police have not arrested Anwar the logical deduction is that no blood sample belonging to Anwar was left on Saiful. And if no blood sample was left on Saiful, what is the point of asking Anwar to give another blood sample? Even if Anwar gave another sample, there is no blood taken from Saiful’s body to match Anwar’s new blood sample with. Therefore, it is nonsense to ask Anwar for a new blood sample. And the only logical conclusion is that the police is only trying to get a new sample so that the blood can be put on Saiful’s underwear as proof of the sodomy.
In any case with regard to Badawi, it seems one cannot get a straight answer from these UMNO types. One cannot tell whether they are stupid or cunning.
Comment by Liang1a — Sunday, 20-07-2008 @ 03: 16.54
“There is no conspiracy or any action to victimise him. No need to believe it,” he said, adding the DNA sample that was taken 10 years ago “is too old and so they need a new one.”
The above quote was taken from the same article referred to in my prior post above. So Badawi did give a reason for needing a new sample. Unfortunately for him the reason is a stupid one and technically wrong. When a blood sample is analyzed for DNA, the result is in the form of a picture or graph with many bars like the bar code on merchandise tags. Therefore, it is a hard copy on a material that will keep for decades if not centuries. The blood sample might be too old - though blood samples from mummies that are thousands of years old still can yield good results - but there is no need to run a new test on the old blood sample. It is only necessary to look at the hard copy results of the old blood sample. Therefore, Badawi is still either stupid or evasive.
Comment by Liang1a — Sunday, 20-07-2008 @ 04: 03.10
One thing Anwar can do, if the police insisted that he give blood sample, is to counteroffer to send his blood to a US or UK DNA lab and then have the result sent directly to the police. This way Anwar would not need to give any blood sample to the police and the police would still have the DNA data of Anwar to match the DNA of anything taken off the skin or clothe of Saiful. The blood sample could be taken by a technician sent from the US or UK lab in the presence of a police representative.
Comment by Liang1a — Sunday, 20-07-2008 @ 04: 11.16
No need blood sample. Just give ur hair sample will do. Let them poke it inside Saiful’s. Lesson learned, do not get ur self cyfooled eithr by BN or PDRM. No wonder they can solved problems on missing children. Their knowledge and style is so outdated!
Comment by abu ziyad — Monday, 21-07-2008 @ 13: 03.18