November 9, 1998

November 9, 1998

Anwar's trial allows peek into Malaysian secret police

By ANIL NETTO

Penang, Malaysia - The ongoing trial of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is giving Malaysians a rare, if unpleasant, look into the country's shadowy secret police.

Living up to expectations of courtroom drama, testimony this week before the trial that began on November 2 has allowed Malaysians to hear about tactics the secret police, or the much-feared Special Branch, use in investigations.

Spectators in the packed Kuala Lumpur courtroom gasped when Special Branch director Mohammad Said Awang said he may lie under oath if the situation warranted.

Asked by one of Anwar's nine lawyers, Christopher Fernando, whether he would come to court to lie if he was instructed to do so "by someone higher in rank than the deputy prime minister," Said replied: "Depends on the situation. I may or may not lie."

Anwar's trial began with four counts of corruption, including one that says the sacked leader abused his power in August last year by interfering with a police probe into his alleged sexual misconduct.

Anwar, who appeared in pre-trial hearings with a black eye, is also charged with one other count of corruption and five of sodomy. He has pleaded not guilty to all 10 charges and claims that high-ranking officials conspired to plot his downfall.

Before his September arrest, he said he was sacked from the cabinet because Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in power for 17 years, felt threatened by his deputy's growing popularity.

But as the trial got underway, it was the Special Branch chief who fell under the spotlight when two of Anwar's lawyers, including Fernando, grilled Said for almost four hours.

Tempers flared during the rare occasion that a Special Branch officer found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of questions under cross-examination.

The secret arm of Malaysia's police, the Special Branch is known for its harsh interrogation techniques, honed during the 'emergency' of 1948-1960 when it had to battle a communist insurgency.

Critics say it later applied some of those techniques - long hours of interrogation, solitary confinement, denying access to legal counsel, family and friends, extreme duress - to those detained under the country's Internal Security Act including opposition politicians and critics of the ruling elite.

Shrouded in secrecy, the Special Branch which comes under the Home Ministry headed by Mahathir is said to be Malaysia's most efficient government department.

Many activists and prominent personalities believe their phone lines are tapped and their movements monitored by the Special Branch.

Of late, plainclothes Special Branch personnel have been out on the streets in large numbers trying to keep tabs on thousands of demonstrators calling for Mahathir's resignation.

At some demonstrations, eyewitnesses say police have cracked down harshly on bystanders and demonstrators calling for reforms or supporting Anwar.

In his testimony, Said alleged that Anwar had instructed him in August last year to arrest and "shake up" a man and woman who wrote letters accusing the former deputy prime minister of sexual misconduct so that they would retract their allegations.

He said the Special Branch used a "turning over operation" to successfully obtain the retractions. In such an operation, he said the police would "turn over their targets, so that they would change their stand or belief".

But first, they would assess their targets to find means to turn them away from their stand or views, he said.

"'Turn over' is a process where there is a change in a person's stand. As an example, if he has a communist belief, you turn him over so that he changes his stand or belief. 'Neutralisation' is to see that if somebody is a threat to security, we neutralise him so that he is no more a threat," Said said of the Special Branch methods.

"Turning over and neutralise go together. First, we turn over our suspect, then we neutralise him to make him normal and natural," he said. Said, however, declined to elaborate on the techniques used, saying it was "actually the Special Branch's great secret".

But for many activists and former ISA detainees, there was never any big secret about what these tactics were. "It confirms previous suspicions raised by others about the techniques used," said social reformer Dr Mustafa Anuar.

Said is the first of 52 prosecution witnesses to be heard during the trial, which is to span most of November.

Among the others lined up are Mahathir, his political secretary, two cabinet ministers, a former chief minister, the Attorney General, the inspector-general of police, and the author of a book 50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Be Prime Minister.

There will be plenty to keep the public engrossed in what is turning out to be Malaysia's trial of the century - but not all the information from it is making its way to the public.

Local media coverage of the trial has left many dissatisfied. "It's not complete," complains social worker Catherine Selvam of the sanitised accounts of the trial run by local newspapers.

"You get the feeling you are not getting the whole picture. And I have stopped listening to the news."

Malaysians denied access into the small courtroom, which is packed with reporters, international observers and Anwar's relatives, have turned to the internet and satellite television for foreign news reports.

Government officials are worried that the trial will overshadow the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Kuala Lumpur later this month, and that foreign leaders will raise Anwar's plight with the government.

Malaysia's Param Cumaraswamy, who is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges, has said the court's refusal to grant observer status to representatives from international organisations is inconsistent with Malaysia's role in seeking high profile offices in the UN.

from MISAnet/Inter Press Service

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)