Fair Enough

Malaysia's former police chief walked free on bail yesterday after receiving a two-month jail sentence for assaulting the former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in a police cell.

Abdul Rahim Noor slapped, punched and karate-kicked the opposition politician, causing him to pass out on the floor. Anwar was handcuffed and blindfolded during the attack, which took place on the night he was arrested in 1998.

Rahim was granted bail while he appeals against the jail term. His lawyers said the sentence was too harsh but a human rights group, Suaram, called it "merely a light slap on his wrist".
"I don't think the public will be satisfied with the sentence imposed," said Anwar's lawyer, Karpal Singh. "This was an assault on a defenceless man who was blindfolded, handcuffed at the back and assaulted, not just anywhere but in the inner sanctum, the headquarters of the police force."

Mr Karpal has called on the attorney general to allow an appeal against the sentence on the grounds that it is "far too lenient".
Anwar is serving a six-year sentence for misuse of power. He is currently on trial for sodomy and faces up to 20 additional years in jail if he is convicted.
His wife, Wan Azizah, who was recently elected to parliament for the National Justice party, described the two-month term for Rahim as "minimal", pointing out that many Malaysians have been sent to jail for longer periods just for taking part in opposition demonstrations.

Comparisons between the treatment of Anwar and his attacker "leave Malaysians with a sense that something is very wrong in their system of justice", said opposition politician Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Democratic Action party.

Unlike Rahim, Anwar was not allowed bail during his trial or while awaiting an appeal. Anwar was quickly brought to trial while it took a year for Rahim's case to be heard.

There is also concern that the prosecution agreed to reduce the charges against Rahim at the last minute without giving any reason. Rahim then changed his plea to guilty.

His lawyers said he always put the interests of the nation before his own and in this case he wanted to "save the government from further international embarrassment, especially in the western media".
(picked from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/mar/16/malaysia by Frances Harrison in Kuala Lumpur Thursday March 16 2000)
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* police officer sentenced for 1 month = civil people sentenced for 12 months
(think deeply before you talk)

Set FREE for the WORKERs

Malaysian police have arrested the lawyer of jailed finance minister Anwar Ibrahim and three others on charges of sedition, in an apparent crackdown on the opposition.

Prominent politician and lawyer Karpal Singh, who is a leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) but lost his seat in parliament in November's snap elections, was taken to a local police station, according to a party official.
Police declined to elaborate on the charge against him.

Earlier on Wednesday, police arrested three other opposition figures under the Sedition Act.

Marina Yusoff of Parti Keadilan Nasional (National Justice Party) is accused of inciting racial hatred in remarks made before general elections in November, the opposition party said in a statement.
Her remarks related to race riots that erupted in 1969.

The editor of the newspaper run by the conservative Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), Zulkifli Sulong, said both he and the holder of the newspaper's publishing permit were arrested separately on charges of sedition over an August 1999 article on the judiciary.
Mr Sulong said he was arrested on charges of sedition in a police station in the capital and that he would plead not guilty when he appeared at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Thursday at 0100 GMT.

Opposition leaders denounced the arrests, which they said could mark the start of a campaign to stifle criticism of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's coalition and governing authorities.

"Apparently a policy decision has been taken for a crackdown," Lim Kit Siang, national chairman of the Democratic Action Party, told Reuters.
The arrests came two months after bitterly-contested general elections and on the day the prime minister left the country on a two-week holiday.
He left Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also home minister responsible for police, in charge.

Asia's longest-serving elected leader, Dr Mahathir has been in power since 1981 and won an unprecedented fifth mandate in November's polls when his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition took three quarters of the seats in parliament.
Dr Mahathir's supporters credit him with modernising Malaysia. But his critics, foremost among them Mr Anwar, say his government has curbed civil liberties.
Mr Anwar's sacking in 1998 and subsequent arrest galvanised the disparate opposition, which in the recent polls made deep inroads into Dr Mahathir's United Malays National Organisation's base in the Moslem Malay electorate.
(picked from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/600142.stm Wednesday, 12 January, 2000, 12:44 GMT)