[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 14 Sep 1999
Time: 06:17:47
Remote User: -
Probe on Anwar's poison claim will take time: Malaysian police chief
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 (AFP) - Malaysia's police chief said Tuesday that investigations into claims that ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim had been poisoned with arsenic in prison would take some time. "The investigation will take some time because it depends heavily on the reports of doctors and experts," Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai was reported as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
Norian said police had taken specimens of Anwar's urine and sent it to several parties in the country for testing, and might also take samples of his hair and fingernails to be analysed.
"The samples may also possibly be sent abroad to be analysed and subsequent action will depend on the results of these tests," he added.
The police chief said current investigations were "straightforward" according to the penal code based on a report lodged by Anwar's wife, adding it was still uncertain if a special investigating team would be formed.
Anwar, 52, was hospitalised Friday when lawyers told his ongoing sodomy trial that traces of arsenic 77 times the normal level was found in his urine sample, bringing the trial to an abrupt halt.
Hospital authorities have said that he was in "good condition."
Anwar was sacked and arrested last September amid a falling out with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad over economic policies, and was sentenced to six years jail in April for abuse of power.
Mahathir was quoted as saying Tuesday that the poison claims smacked of a plot to arouse the anger of Anwar supporters and instigate them to rally against the government.
The 73-year-old premier charged the allegations were timed to coincide with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Law Conference being held here.
"He did this so that his followers would be angry with the government and create riots," he reportedly said at the opening of a sports complex late Monday.
"We know why they rioted because APEC was going on in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Law Conference was going to be held here in Malaysia. They wanted to show how dirty their own country is.
"They do not wish to see peace and stability but are willing to tarnish the country for their own political interests," he added.
Mahathir skipped the APEC summit which ended Monday. Aides cited his tight domestic schedule ahead of general elections widely expected in the next few months.
Anwar supporters mounted a rally over the weekend, where seven people were detained.
Mahathir said it was not the first time Anwar had used similar tactics to incite hatred towards the government and seek public support.
In 1974 when Mahathir was then education minister, Anwar led a student demonstration in a northern state after a child had supposedly died of starvation, he said.
"Although the news was not true, the students still went ahead with the demonstration... it's clear that Anwar is the mastermind who is adept at using demonstrations to show off his credibility," he said.
"Anwar likes trouble and uses demonstrations as a means to rise as a leader," he added.
Mahathir noted there had been no such trouble after Anwar was detained under the security act for leading the 1974 demonstration. He later recruited the charismatic Anwar into the government and groomed him as his successor until their bitter split last year.
The premier said it was "only when Anwar was removed from the government in 1998 that the riots started again."
Mahathir also said this was not the first time that Anwar and his supporters had made claims of poisoning, noting that Anwar's wife last year alleged the government would inject the HIV virus into his body.
"It is not the National Front's way to poison or inject HIV virus into our political rivals," he added.