Did The Boy Cry "Wolf"?
By: Malik Imtiaz Sarwar Forwarded by Alex - Migrant Care - Laman M@RHAEN
I am not partial to conspiracy theories; they tend to blur the lines between fact and fiction even as they obscure the paths to the truth.
It is for that reason that I have veered away from claiming that the events leading to the proclaiming by the Government, through its agents, that Anwar Ibrahim had committed sodomy and the events since have been aspects of a conspiracy aimed at undermining Anwar Ibrahim politically and removing him as a threat.
Until now, that is. The events of the last two days have made it impossible to preclude the possibility.
The revelation that a doctor had examined Saiful Bukhari prior to his having lodged the police report and found there to have been no indications of his having been sodomized are in themselves sufficient to put into question the validity of actions taken by the police to date. Any possible doubt as to this conclusion was put to rest by the manner in which the police dealt with the revelation of the medical report.
The New Straits Times, reported yesterday that:
"Police have dismissed reports on the Internet that a private hospital doctor had not found any medical evidence of sodomy by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's accuser as another attempt to sabotage police investigations.From this, it would seem that the position of the police on this is NOT that the report exonerated Anwar Ibrahim but RATHER that the news portal and the blogger (I presume these to be Malaysiakini and Raja Petra respectively since they broke the story first) conspired to sabotage on-going investigations by fabricating a story about a medical report that makes it evident that Saiful was not sodomized so as to confuse the public."Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the reports were also aimed at confusing the people. Police, he said, were considering investigating the news website and a blog over their reports, which referred to a medical report allegedly issued by Pusrawi Hospital on Jalan Tun Razak.
"The news report claimed that there was no evidence that Anwar's former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had been sodomised. However, Ismail declined to comment on the medical report itself, saying investigations were ongoing."
But wait.
The Deputy IGP declined to comment on the medical report. That and the fact that there has been no denial of the existence of such a report by the hospital concerned, point to such a report having been made. If that were the case, what sabotage could there be? Could the Deputy IGP have been concerned about the image of the force, the possible perception that it had been directed to ends that were not entirely proper? As things stood yesterday, prior to his statement to the New Strait Times, there was no reason to conclude that the police force had acted improperly as it was possible that the police knew nothing about the report and had pursued a line of investigation without having been appraised of all the relevant facts.
But then, the news report also confirms that a statement was taken from the doctor concerned, making it evident that the police knew about the medical report. This is something the Deputy IGP would surely have known.
So, what sabotage was there? This was a strong accusation, suggesting active interference with investigations with a view to derailing them. But if there was a medical report and it says what it does, and this is the truth, would that not facilitate investigations rather than impede them?
Why sabotage? The use of the word is disconcerting. As is the fact that the doctor has not been available for comment. The parallels with the sudden unavailability of Private Investigator Balasubramaniam after his sudden u-turn are worrying. Even if direct pressure has not been brought to bear on these individuals, it is manifest that the individuals concerned are sufficiently fearful of reprisal so as to have disappeared from public life. Above all, this points to things not being as they should be.
As things stand, it would seem there is no basis to form the view that Anwar Ibrahim sodomized Saiful Bukhari. The existence of the medical report puts into doubt the credibility of his accusation. The fact that Anwar Ibrahim has not been charged to date lends credence to this conclusion bearing in mind that the decision to prosecute can only be made if there is sufficient evidence for a court to convict the accused if that evidence was not rebutted by the accused (a prima facie case).
And if it is true that Saiful Bukhari was not sodomized, it is equally important that Malaysians be made aware of what prompted his accusation. The circumstances are ambiguous and suggest a range of possible motivations, range from a desire for attention on the part of Saiful Bukhari to the more sinister possibility of a full fledged conspiracy.
Whatever the case, in view of the possibility that the tremendous resources harnessed for the investigation into Anwar Ibrahim had been wasted on an exercise in futility, it would seem that there is sufficient basis for the police to commence investigation into these motivations, if only to attempt to restore confidence in the integrity of the force.
Forwarded by:
Alex Ong
Malaysia Country Director
Migrant CARE
Perhimpunan Indonesia untuk Buruh Migran Berdaulat
(Member of Migrant Forum in Asia and International NGO
Platform on Migrant Workers' Convention)Jl. Pulo Asem I C No 15 RT 015 RW 001 Jati,
Jakarta Timur 13220 Indonesia
Telp/Fax: +62 21 4752803
E-mail: alexmigrantcare@gmail.com
migrantcare@nusa.or.id
Website: www.buruhmigranberdaulat.blogspot.com
01.08.2008 -
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