Ex-police chief claims Anwar provoked beating
Ex-police chief claims Anwar provoked beating
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's ex-police chief said on
Tuesday he was provoked into slapping ousted finance minister
Anwar Ibrahim, and denied Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had
instructed him to beat the former minister.
In his first public admission that he hit Anwar after the
sacked minister was arrested in September, former inspector-
general of police Abdul Rahim Noor said he lost control and
slapped Anwar after being called a "father of dogs".
"Let me make it clear, my act as referred to was not prompted,
abetted, instructed, advised, directed, assisted by anyone else,
not even my police officers who helped me, not even the prime
minister," the ex-police chief said.
Rahim Noor, 55, offered the riveting testimony to a royal
commission investigating injuries Anwar suffered after being
arrested in September.
Anwar, who says he was the victim of a high-level political
conspiracy, on Monday demanded to know whether Rahim Noor had
been ordered by Mahathir to hit him.
Mahathir sacked Anwar in September after differences over the
economy and politics had reached a breaking point.
Rahim Noor, who resigned as police chief in January, said
Anwar was blindfolded and standing when he entered the detention
cell after the former minister was arrested on Sept. 20.
"My first instinct was to unfold the blind. As I was about to
do that, he uttered these words, Ni bapa anjing (this father of
dogs). I lost my cool," Rahim Noor said.
"I slapped him both on the left and right. He fell on the
concrete slab. In the blink of an eye I could not remember
whether I delivered other physical acts on him."
Anwar denies he provoked his assailant and says he was
punched, slapped and hit with karate chops in a beating that
included at least seven hard blows, lasted several minutes and
left him bleeding and unconscious.
Rahim Noor, wearing a dark grey suit and tie, said he struck
Anwar immediately after being insulted, and he acted alone.
"I lost my sense of control, and in that situation, perhaps
because of offensive words used against me, perhaps the loss of
control came after we had discussed about the chaotic situations
in KL."
Anwar was arrested after leading thousands of protesters
through the capital calling on Mahathir to quit. Rahim Noor said
police decided to arrest Anwar and asked the army for help to
avoid Indonesian-style riots.
The opposition Democratic Action Party secretary-general Lim
Kit Siang said on Tuesday that Rahim Noor had brought the
greatest shame and dishonor to the entire Malaysian police force.
"He should be arrested and charged in court, and stripped of
his Tan Sri (honorific) title," Lim said.
"If the head of one of the most important and powerful
instruments of government could totally lose his cool and control
so easily, Malaysians have reasons to be worried about the
quality of leadership and governance in the country," Lim said in
a statement.
Lim charged that Rahim "showed no contriteness in his conduct
in the last five-and-a-half months for assaulting Anwar or
plunging the police force, the government and the nation into
international infamy."
He said Anwar was also denied medical attention for five days
after the beating despite repeatedly asking for it.
Lim also urged Mahathir to "publicly and unreservedly tender
his apologies" to Anwar for suggesting the injuries could have
been self-inflicted and for "failing in his duties" as home
minister at the time.