I, Dr. Munawar Ahmad Anees, NRIC No: 480927-71-5139, of No. 474, Lorong
17/13A, Happy Garden, Petaling Jaya and of Kajang Prison (Banduan No. BKJ
7175/98 HL) do hereby declare and state as follows:
1. At about 10.30 a.m. on 14 September 1998 I was at home at No. 474,
Jalan 17/13A, Happy Garden, Petaling Jaya.
2. I had just started checking my email on the computer when I noticed
that about 10 to 12 people had suddenly come into the compound of my house.
The front main gate into the house was open at that time. I heard the noise
of people inside the house. I came down from the first floor of my house
and on the way down told my wife, Nadia, that lots of people had suddenly
come to the house. She came down as well.
3. As soon as I entered the main living room on the ground floor, one
man from that large group came to me and identified himself as Inspector
Mazlan. He said that he was arresting me under the Internal Security Act
for posing a threat to the national security of Malaysia. He immediately
handcuffed me. By now I noticed that some from that group of people who
had come in had seated themselves on chairs in the living room while others
were talking to my driver.
4. The entire group were in plainclothes and had no visible identification
on them that they were police officers. I was not shown any warrant for
my arrest. No one produced any search warrant.
5. As soon as I was handcuffed one person who did not identify himself
asked to go to my study. I asked for my handcuffs to be removed. He refused.
About 5 to 6 of them then went to my study. The way they walked about in
my house indicated familiarity with the place. They entered my study without
my permission and ransacked the entire room. They went through everything
there: all the drawers, my computer, the software, papers, magazines, books,
everything that was there. This exhaustive search took them about an hour.
They were careless and rough in their search and showed no regard for things.
They removed everything that they could take: videos, audiotapes, faxes,
disks, books, photos, magazines.
They even opened several sealed letters that had just come with the
mail. They took things from inside drawers, from the bookshelves, from
within files. They took my tax returns and my personal and family photographs
that were there.
6. At one point one of the members of that group asked about the room
that faced the study. I told him it was my daughter's room. Several of
them went into that room but I do not know what, if anything, they removed
from that room.
7. My wife was with me all the time. She was frightened and terribly
shaken at what was happening to us in our own house and was trembling.
She was holding onto me and we were both trying to encourage each other,
she more than me because I was already suffering from heavy palpitations
at this point.
I asked her for some water. She got me the water.
8. The police placed all items taken from the first floor of my house
and my study in a cardboard box which they had brought with them. They
took me down to the living room and there announced that they were taking
me away. I was never told what my offense was and I was never shown any
search warrant or warrant of arrest.
9. I turned to my wife and held her. She was on the verge of tears and
my parting words to her were to be strong.
10. I did not see my wife again after that until 19 September 1998 when
I was taken to the court by the police.
11. The police bundled me out of my house pulling me along by the handcuffs.
I was placed in the back of an unmarked Proton car which had been driven
into the compound of my house.
Inspector Mazlan sat in the front passenger seat of the car and two
other officers sat on the back seat with me, one on either side.
12. After about a half hour drive I arrived at what I think was the
Travers Road Police Station. The entire team of police officers got down
from the car and once again I was bundled out of the car. The rest of the
group of police who had been at my house also arrived there shortly after
that.
13. My breathing at this time was labored as my palpitations had worsened
and my arms had gone numb. I complained to Inspector Mazlan but he ignored
my request that I needed medical attention for my heart condition.
14. I was taken into a room somewhere within a building at that Police
Station. There in that room I was left standing while one of them emptied
the contents of the cardboard box onto a large table and started to group
and separate the things they had taken from my house. Inspector Mazlan
then started writing a list of the items and when he was finished he asked
me to sign several documents. I was neither given a copy of these documents
nor was I allowed to read them. I have no idea of what was recorded on
these documents and whether the list prepared of the items taken from my
house was in fact a complete list.
15. All throughout this process I was left handcuffed and standing.
16. When they had finished one of the officers seated at that table
turned to me and told me, once again, that I had been arrested under the
Internal Security Act but he gave no details of the offense or any reasons
for my arrest. He just told me that I was a threat to Malaysia. I could
not understand this at all as I have never in all my years in Malaysia
involved myself in anything that could be described as a threat to the
country. He then wanted my personal particulars and started taking them
down. He asked for my personal particulars and my family's particulars.
This officer never at any time identified himself. He wrote down all that
I gave him on some paper and asked me to sign. When I asked to read what
had been written he just snapped at me to sign and not to interfere in
his work. I signed.
17. All this while my palpitations were causing my breathing to be very
labored. I complained once again that I needed medical assistance. This
request was ignored, again, but I was given a glass of water and a cigarette
to smoke. I felt strangely lightheaded after the cigarette.
18. I was kept in that room all the while.
19. A little later another police officer brought in a typed document
which he said was the official police report. It was in Bahasa Malaysia
and again I was told curtly to sign it. I did so. I was not allowed to
read it and it was also neither read nor translated to me.
20. All the things taken from my house were then placed back in the
cardboard box. When they were done Inspector Mazlan came over to me and
said that I was now being handed to some others. He did not identify them
but added that I would be in safe hands and that I must cooperate with
them. He then left the room.
21. After Mazlan left two of the men who were there in that room came
over and held me in a tight grip so much so that I could not even struggle.
A third man came over and blindfolded me. I was then led out of the room
and guided and dragged into some sort of a vehicle. The entire exercise
of getting me into the vehicle took some time. My vision was completely
blacked out by the blindfold. It was necessary to climb up some steps to
get into the vehicle and while the officers tried to guide me, I found
my feet and legs suddenly heavy and weighed down. I found it difficult
to walk and an effort to move. I was finally placed in a cage-like metal
contraption in that vehicle. This contraption, which I examined with my
hands, was triangular in shape and very small so much so that I could only
crouch in it. I was left alone for a while in that cage in the back of
the vehicle. It was hot and airless in there. After sometime I heard the
sound of an engine starting and then the vehicle moved off.
22. I think the vehicle traveled for about 30 to 40 minutes.
At the end of the journey, when it stopped I heard sounds of metal doors
being opened and footsteps coming into the vehicle. I was pulled out of
the cage and then out of the vehicle.
23. I had no idea where I was.
24. Still blindfolded and handcuffed I was led/dragged away by two men.
I heard other footsteps around me at this time but no one spoke to me or
amongst themselves. I recollect I was taken through several doors because
I heard them being opened and shut. They finally stopped and someone removed
my blindfold and handcuffs.
25. I found I was a small room. There were four men in that room. They
were all in plainclothes and they immediately adopted a very aggressive
confrontational stance against me.
They were exceptionally rude and coarse in the language they used. They
asked me to strip naked. I tried to resist but had no option but to accede
to their request.
26. My clothes, slippers, watch and glasses were taken away.
27. One of them then took then took my fingerprints. It was a long session
as he took multiple impressions on some 10 or so forms or other documents.
28. I was then weighed.
29. All the while these things were being done the four men kept making
disparaging remarks in a dismissive humiliating style. I was pushed against
a wall and my height was taken.
30. I was then given a dark blue loose pajama type of pants and a T-shirt
and told to get dressed. I did so. I was again blindfolded and handcuffed
and then taken through a series of doors and probably up a flight of stairs.
31. I was finally pushed through a door and when my blindfold was removed
and my eyes adjusted to the light I saw that I was in a cell of approximately
8 feet square. There were two wooden platforms placed against the cell
walls, one on each side. There was no other furniture of any sort. The
cell had no window and ventilation was through two tiny ratholes at the
bottom of one wall. There was no bedding or blankets.
There was a small thin towel on one platform and beside it was a plastic
bowl. The room was brightly lit by an overhead light that was never switched
off throughout my stay there.
The glare of the light could not be avoided from any position in that
small cell. There was an old vent on one wall that made a continuous horrendous
grating sound. This vent did not seem to be moving any air about and was
also never switched off. No sound from outside came through the door. The
cell was literally soundproof though at times I thought I heard the sound
of coughing and heavy breathing as I was led out of the cell to various
other places.
32. Before my captors left the cell I was told, again rudely and in
a dismissive style, that I had henceforth no name or identity, that I was
number 26 and that I was only to answer to that number each and every time
it was called.
33. About 10 to 15 minutes later the door of the cell was slammed open
and a man walked in and shouted out `26'. I was slow to respond and was
severely reprimanded for that. I was again blindfolded and handcuffed,
led out of the cell and moved about 10 paces or so. When my blindfold was
removed I saw I was in another room. There was a man with a camera there.
My handcuffs were removed and about 20 to 30 photographs were taken of
me from various angles. I was then again blindfolded and handcuffed and
returned to my cell.
34. Whenever I was in the cell a small viewing hatch on the door was
opened every few minutes to check on me.
35. About 10 to 15 minutes later, I can only guess as to the time, the
same guard again entered the cell calling me by my number `26'. I was once
again blindfolded and handcuffed and made to walk about ten paces or so.
When the blindfold and handcuffs were removed I saw I was once again in
a room. This time there was a chair in the middle of the room. The chair
had arms but no back. I was forced to sit in it and, against my will, shaved
bald. I was then given a dustpan and a small broom and asked to sweep up
my hair. When I resisted I was made to do so by my captors.
36. When I had finished sweeping up my hair I was once again blindfolded
and handcuffed and returned to my cell.
37. Within a space of a few minutes - I had hardly time to sit on one
of the wooden platforms - there was a loud knock on the door and it was
violently swung open. This ritual of a loud knock and the door being violently
opened was followed each time I was taken out of my cell.
38. This time the guard walked in, looked at me seated on the platform
and shouted that I was rude at not having wished him. I was warned that
I was to get up and greet whoever entered the cell. Once again I was warned
that if my number was called I was to respond immediately.
39. I was now directed to take a bath. I was not asked if I would like
to take one. I was directed to do so. I was given a small thin towel and
a little piece of soap. I was not blindfolded or handcuffed but was told
to keep my head down and not to look up. I was led out of my cell and one
of the guards walked beside me forcibly keeping my head bent down. I walked
down a long narrow corridor. There was just enough light in the corridor
to walk by. On one side of the corridor I saw about 5 similar doors like
those on my cell. At the end of the corridor there was a bathroom. I was
asked by the guard to switch on the light in the bathroom. When I did so
I noticed a sink and a squat toilet that had no door. There were protrusions
on the wall from which presumably water was to come.
40. As I got ready to take a bath the guard yelled at me to get on and
to hurry up. The water was very cold. I started my bath but when I was
halfway through it and while still having soap on my body he stopped me
and then got me to dress and to get out of the bathroom. I forgot to switch
off the light and the guard became angry and screamed at me that he wasn't
there to serve me. I was rushed back to my cell with my clothes still damp.
All the way back my head was once again kept forcibly down so that I couldn't
look up.
41. The one vivid memory I have of that dark corridor is that of a single
waste basket outside one of the many doors - the only sign that I saw during
my stay there that perhaps I was not the only occupant in this hell.
42. A short while later the door opening ritual was repeated.
I stood up to meet the guard. He walked in, handed me a small packet,
said nothing and left. When I opened it I saw that it had a little rice
and a small piece of fish in it. I couldn't eat the fish. I tried it and
it had a peculiar rancid taste as if it was off. I ate some of the rice.
I had hardly done that when the door opened again. I stood up and the packet
was removed.
43. By my estimate the time would now have been about 8 to 9 p.m. on
the night of I was arrested. I thought that I would now be left alone.
I was tired, dazed and disoriented, still having very heavy palpitations
and labored breathing and intensely worried about my family. The heavy
feeling in my legs and lightheadedness had returned after the rice meal
and I felt very lethargic.
44. Once again there was the now familiar bang on the door and my number
`26' was shouted out. I stood up. The door opened and this time two guards
walked in. I greeted them.
They did not speak. They first handcuffed and then blindfolded me but
this time the blindfold was different. It consisted of black glasses that
wrapped around my eyes and blinker-like sides that completely cut out all
light. I could see nothing.
45. They led me out of my cell. They held me for a short distance and
from then on gave directions and allowed me to grope my way. They were
always by my side or a step behind.
They always asked me to open doors. We went up a flight of stairs -
there were 50 steps over five landings. At each stage one of the guards
would position my cuffed hands on the railing and ask me to follow it up.
I was told to count to ten steps and then turn to my left. I think I walked
up 5 floors.
46. After the 50th step I was asked to stop. One of the two swung me
around and punched me in the stomach and said that he was `Mr. Nice Guy'
and that I was `Dr. Feel Good'. I was then turned around again and pushed
against a door and asked to open it. I did so and when told went inside.
One of the guards came from behind and adjusted my blindfold partially.
I could see where I was from the corner of my eyes and partially from
below the blindfold.
47. I was taken through a series of doors and then through something
that had the appearance of a long dark corridor. I saw a red light at the
end, somewhat like red light that one sees in a photographer's darkroom.
On the left there were some doors. I had the distinct impression that there
was an abyss on my right side and that if I took one step wrong I would
fall into it. I was told to turn to my left. I did so.
My handcuffs were now taken off. A moment later one of the guards took
my blindfold off. I saw I was facing an open room. It was brightly lit.
I was dazed, fazed out, blinded by the intense light and for the first
few minutes after the blindfold was removed could make no sense of things.
48. When I was finally able to focus I saw four stonefaced expressionless
men seated on chairs behind a table. The two men on either side looked
Chinese, the one in the middle left Indian and the one other Malay. My
guards left me standing in front of the table. There was silence in the
room.
49. Suddenly the Malay man thumped the table and shouted at me in Bahasa
Malaysia. I did not understand him and apologized in English for not being
fluent in Bahasa. The Malay man then switched to a mixture of Malay and
English and abused me for not speaking the language. He repeatedly kept
saying `fuck', `fucking' as he abused me. The other three joined in as
well. This went on for something like 20 to 30 minutes. I tried explaining
that I could write and read Jawi but that as most of my work was in English
and that all my friends spoke English there was never any great need to
become fluent in Bahasa. After about 30 minutes or so the four of them
stopped and the Malay officer suddenly slammed the table again and shouted
at me in English that I had no manners, that I had entered a place where
there were four seated officers and I had not greeted them. I was startled
by his actions. I apologized to him, said I was sorry, that I had lost
all track of time and place, that I did not know what to say to them. The
Malay man stared at me and then said in Urdu "thum bahat jau"
- you sit down.
50. From then on my interrogators abused and assailed me mainly in English.
51. There was a small double conical plastic stool in front of the table.
It had no back or arms. I sat on it and found that it was unstable and
rocked and swiveled at even the slightest move. I was unsteady on that
stool and one of the two Chinese men shouted at me to sit properly. I tried
to explain but before I could even do so he shouted, "Learn some manners,
otherwise things are going to be difficult for you".
I apologized to him and said, "Sorry, sir, the stool is unsteady."
52. There was then suddenly a barrage of questions directed at me. One
interrogator would ask a question, I would be in the middle of my answer
when another would cut in with a second question. I would turn to the second
officer and the third would attack me with a different question. I would
turn to the third and the first would yell at me demanding his answer.
As I tried to recollect my thoughts between the first, second and third
questions, the fourth officer would cut in with yet another question. The
questions were never related, there was no link between them though they
were all directed at my personal particulars, about my work, something
about everything but nothing indicative of any subversive or criminal activities.
This style of questioning was consistently followed throughout my interrogation
there though at times some of the interrogators would leave the room leaving
behind two and, at times, one interrogator. I can only guess they went
to rest but they never let me rest.
53. While this was going on I heard the door behind me being violently
kicked open. I turned and saw a man walk in. The four behind the table
stood up. The man who walked in was carrying a thick heavy file. He walked
up to me and hit the back of my head with the file and then shouted at
me that they knew everything and that there was no need for me to misguide
them or to hide. He said that they knew everything I did with Anwar. When
I tried to protest that I did nothing except help write speeches, this
officer menacingly said " I am giving you 24 hours. Within that period
come up with what we want or we will be very very nasty with you."
He went on to say that his superiors wanted the information from me within
24 hours, that by tomorrow they must complete the matter. He then hit the
back of my head again with his file, thumped the floor with his shoes,
shouted `Hidup Malaysia', turned and left. The door was heavily slammed
shut behind him.
54. When this officer left the room the Indian-looking man at the table
pointed at me and warned me that the officer who had just left was the
top-notch officer and added `You know what he wants. He wants facts, information.
We want facts." I again protested that I had done nothing irregular
but they were not interested in my protestations and continued haranguing
me. They alternated in questioning me about my personal particulars, about
my family, my work, regularly interspersing the barrage of questions with
warnings that my arrest was under the Internal Security Act because I was
a threat to the national security of Malaysia, that under the Internal
Security Act I would never be bailed out and that no lawyer could ever
see me.
55. They would then switch to telling me that the Internal Security
Act was not punitive but preventive, that they had invoked it in order
to prevent perceived threats to the national security of the country, that
I should not feel ashamed of my presence there before them, that they had
arrested members of Parliament, Chief Ministers and other high profile
figures. They described to me an attempt by a person known as Kitingan
who tried to secede from Malaysia.
56. In between all the verbal abuse, threats and advise, the Malay officer
tried to impress me with his knowledge of Urdu by the use of the odd word
or two or by singing a snatch of some Hindi song.
57. I kept telling them, whenever they would let me, that I had made
no attempt to attack Malaysia, that I had done nothing illegal or criminal
and could not understand my presence before them and for their treating
me in such a humiliating and degrading manner. They never answered me on
that but would always turn things around and tell me that I was at a transit
station and that my presence there was a favor to me and my family. One
or other of the four would always warn me that if I did not co-operate
I would be sent to a detention center for 2 years and that the detention
would be further extended in 2 year multiples. I was repeatedly told that
I would never see my family again and that I should consider this opportunity
a blessing since everyone was giving me a chance.
58. I couldn't understand what they wanted and what was this chance
they were giving me. I would tell them this. They would then emphasize,
in turn, repeatedly, about how senior people had been arrested for their
own rehabilitation. They warned me that my perception of no wrong was mine
and not necessarily correct, that in someone else's or his (the officer's)
mind I had done wrong. They warned me that the Internal Security Act was
to retrain minds towards goodness, to offer me a chance to realize my mistakes
and an opportunity to repent. They would repeatedly emphasize that I could
not lie as they knew everything and that my perception of events and ideas
was totally wrong. They said that they would correct me and I must accept
their perceptions. They warned me that they wanted me to co-operate and
that if I did so the interview would finish quickly and I would be free
but that if I didn't I would go to the detention center and it would be
the end of my and my family's life.
59. These warnings were repeatedly given to me every time I tired from
the questions that were being continuously hurled at me. There was no let
up in the interrogation or the threats or the warnings despite their being
aware of my medical condition and my state of exhaustion.
60. I had had just one small meal since my arrest early on the morning
of the 14 September 1998. I had had no rest or sleep and had lost all track
of time. I was sick. My interrogators did not care at all about my condition.
At some point of time in the night or the early hours of the morning, shortly
before they returned me to the cell, they began asking me whether I knew
why I was there in their hands. I said I did not know and they would then
tell me that it had to do with Anwar. When I would tell them that I was
his English speech writer they would respond by saying that they knew.
They would then ask me to think of my position and that I had to help them
and the nation. They would tell me how.
61. I knew of nothing wrong in my status of being Anwar's speech writer
and friend. They would then alternatively yell, shout or advise that my
perceptions were wrong and that they would tell me how to help them and
the nation.
62. They finally asked me to think of my status and that they would
see me soon.
63. After hours of this rough and humiliating interrogation I was once
again blindfolded and handcuffed and led back down the five flights of
stairs to my cell. I was pushed in and my blindfold and handcuffs were
removed.
64. I had been barely in my cell for a few minutes when the peephole
opened and someone peered in and jeered at me. The person muttered abuse
in Bahasa before slamming shut the peephole.
65. I did not know what time it was. I could only guess that it was
well into the morning of 15 September 1998. I was exhausted. I tried to
rest on the wooden platform but was unable to do so with the overhead bright
light and the noise from the vent.
66. There was the loud knock on the door again and once more my number
was called out and the door opened. I was already on my feet. I was asked
to take my bath. Fazed out, dazed, exhausted I was led to the bathroom,
my head held forcibly down. The water from the overhead pipe was cold.
I had hardly started when I was told to stop and to get out. I did not
even dry myself but hurriedly put on my pajama pants and the T-shirt. I
forgot again to switch off the light and got yelled again because of that.
I was led back to my cell, head down. My clothes were wet and uncomfortable
and with the light on and the noise from the vent I could not sleep.
67. A short while later there was a knock on the door. The number calling
and door opening ritual was repeated. I was asked to put my plastic bowl
outside the door. I did so and a guard poured plain tea in it. A slice
of white bread was placed on a grill bar in the door and I was ordered
to pick it up. I carried the bowl and bread into my cell. This was my breakfast.
68. A little later my number was called out again and a man walked into
my cell. He asked if I remembered him. He said he was `Mr. Nice Guy'. He
said he was taking me to the Hospital.
69. My chest pains, palpitations, breathlessness and numbness in my
arm had continued from the morning of 14 September right through the night's
interrogation.
70. I was once again blindfolded and handcuffed and led down one or
two floors. I was then put in a vehicle of some sort.
I was unable to see out and both the blindfold and handcuffs were kept
on throughout the entire journey. When the van stopped someone came into
the back of the vehicle and removed my blindfold and handcuffs. I saw that
it was the officer calling himself `Mr. Nice Guy' who had done that. He
warned me that this was a special privilege being given to me and that
I was to behave myself while with the doctor. He warned me that I was under
their complete surveillance all the time.
71. I can only guess that the time now would have been somewhere after
8.00 a.m..
72. When I was first brought out of the van the sunlight bothered my
eyes. I saw the emergency services signboard of the General Hospital, Kuala
Lumpur. There were four police officers constantly circling me. I was taken
to a see a lady doctor who wore a tag that, I think, read `Dr. Shymala
Devi'.
My number was given to the doctor. They also handed to her a file which
they had with them. I was sent for an ECG and a urine test. I also had
a chest x-ray done and then was brought back to the same doctor. She did
a cursory physical examination and then prescribed five different medications
which were handed to the police officers. I was returned to the van, placed
inside it, once again blindfolded and handcuffed and taken back to my cell.
73. They left me alone for a short while after that and then brought
a small packet of rice with a piece of fried fish which again had the same
rancid taste and was inedible. I forced myself to eat some of it but felt
sick and uncomfortable and lightheaded immediately after doing so.
74. After this `lunch' I was removed once again from my cell after being
first blindfolded and handcuffed. I was taken up the 50 steps to the previous
night's interrogation room. The same four officers were there. Their attitude,
initially, was different. They started by talking about the hospital, how
about they cared for me and how they were not taking any chances with me.
One asked me to sit. The chair was unstable and I said that I would rather
stand. I remained standing.
After a while I was given a different chair.
75. There was at first a preliminary exchange about the medication that
I had been given at the hospital that morning. After that one of the four
started on the interrogation. He asked if I had thought about things and
about how I could help them and the country. I responded by talking about
the Journal I had started and about how that had put Malaysia on the world
map. They stopped me and warned me that I was on the wrong track. They
asked me to concentrate on Anwar.
76. I still could not understand what they wanted from me on Anwar and
I asked them. Finally one of them asked if I had read the affidavits that
had been published in the papers about Anwar. I said yes but not in any
great detail. One of them said that there were sexual allegations, particularly
of a homosexual nature, against Anwar in those affidavits. I told them
that so far as I knew Anwar was not involved in any such sexual activities
and that in all the years I had known him he had always conducted himself
with integrity. I told them that it was easy to make such allegations.
They said they would show me evidence. They asked me to think and concentrate
on such homosexual activities. I asked if they were making allegations
against me. They denied this and merely said they wanted me to think about
these things. They said that their senior Officer wanted results and once
they had results they would let me sleep and would not disturb me.
I told them that I had never had a homosexual relationship in my entire
life. They said they knew that that was my perception of things but that
my perception of things was wrong, that they had to retrain my mind to
see what was right and wrong, that they would show me how. Once again they
went into how the Internal Security Act was there to help to rehabilitate
minds and people. They said they would show me how. They said they did
not want to fail with me and have me sent off to the detention center.
They said that my family would be completely destroyed if that happened.
77. For the first time at this session they also introduced a threat
involving the presence of US agents in Malaysia. They said that the US
agents were here and were working with them and were already checking into
my background with a view to canceling my pending application for US citizenship
and revoking my green card.
78. For hours the interrogation veered between my rehabilitation, the
retraining of my mind, the position and well-being of my family, the possibility
of my being put away in a detention center, of losing everything I had,
my wife, my children, my work, my freedom, of losing my pending US citizenship,
of being ultimately deported from Malaysia. I was constantly reminded that
I could help the nation, that Anwar was a threat, that the Senior Officers
wanted results.
The style was always the same with all four of them throwing questions
at me and not allowing me to marshall my thoughts and answer them.
79. As the interrogation progressed one or more of the four officers
would, without warning, break into loose vulgar language. One would make
statements like `Anwar fucks, you fuck' and the rest would laugh. Another
would then make a derogatory remark about the Punjabis being big fuckers
and offer me a cigarette.
80. I always felt lightheaded after I smoked one of their cigarettes.
81. The interrogation would then switch back to my work, my vulnerability
being an alien in Malaysia, my family, and then, just as suddenly switch
back to vulgarity and Anwar and homosexuality. They would make lewd remarks,
asking me about the size of my penis using expressions like `dick', `cock'.
They would ask me for its length, its diameter, asking me whether I
would like to put it in someone's `arse'. They asked how I would feel if
I had someone's meat `shoved up my arse', whether I would like to put my
`meat in someone's arse', that they could arrange `it' and everything else
there, that when I went to the detention center I would have `it' done
to me regularly.
82. This switching in the interrogation continued unabated right throughout
the time I was with them. Except for the brief periods I was in the cell
the interrogation never let up. Sometime in the course of the second day
one new interrogator joined the team but the interrogation was usually
conducted by four of them at any one time. Gradually they began to introduce
Anwar's name more into the abuse and began to make him play a more active
part in their lewd descriptions of homosexual and non-homosexual sex. They
began to make suggestions that Anwar enjoyed homosexual sex. They asked
me to think about homosexual sex, about `fucking' Anwar, about Anwar `fucking'
me. They asked me to groan as if I was being `fucked' and enjoying it.
In that situation, in their hands, I had little choice but to groan and
moan as my captors wanted me to. I acted as they wanted me to. They were
bullies and I was in their hands. They asked me if I sucked cocks and then
asked me to pretend I was sucking a big lollipop. They asked me if I had
seen Anwar's cock and then asked me to pretend I was sucking the cock of
the `DPM', as one officer crudely put it. As I acted out the demeaning,
humiliating parts they gave me, they laughed and asked if it was good.
83. By the end of the second day the long hours of interrogation, the
lack of sleep, and the lack of decent food had left me completely disoriented
and exhausted. My health was deteriorating and I was extremely worried
about my family.
84. I was only given my medication when my captors remembered to do
so.
85. I remember the second day's interrogation ending with my interrogators'
warning to me to think about all they had said and that they would be seeing
me again shortly. They said that I could give a great gift to the nation
and that the country would be forever grateful to me. Their parting words,
in unison, were `Fuck Anwar'. I was then handcuffed and blindfolded and
led back to my cell.
86. I had no idea of time.
87. My cell had no pillow or anything that even remotely resembled comfort.
The wooden platform that was to be my bed was half my height. If I lay
down straight half my body hung over the side. The only way I could lie
on the platform was in the fetal position. The light and the sound from
the vent made sleep impossible.
88. The walls of the cell were thick and appeared soundproof.
89. Each time I was made to walk the corridor outside my cell the silence
of the place had overwhelmed me. I heard no sounds other than an occasional
cough and so sensed there were others in the cells adjoining mine.
90. Lying there curled up in that fetal position I could only replay
in my mind what my captors had repeatedly drummed into me: the sex acts
they asked me to act out, the vulnerable position that I was in, that my
wife and children were in. I thought repeatedly about the US agents I had
been told were already here working with my captors and wondered what lies
were being told to them. In that silence, in that cell I was alone and
very far from normalcy and truth and felt increasingly that no one could
help me or my family. We had no money, no savings, nothing. I thought of
being detained indefinitely, of losing my job, of my family being destitute
and alone in a foreign country, of the influence of the Malaysian police
on the US Government to cancel my immigration green card and my pending
US citizenship application. I thought of being penniless, of being deported
with no visible means of support. I thought of all this and I thought of
sleep and food and the love of my family and I cried.
91. I had done nothing wrong but I was deeply frightened. I felt hopelessly
outnumbered and very vulnerable.
92. I dreaded the knock on the door and the calling of number `26'.
But it inevitably came with my bathtime. I was slow again and again I was
scolded as if I was a child. I was bundled down the corridor, with my head
held down, into the bathroom. Once again I was hurried out of the bathroom,
the bath incomplete and sent back to my cell.
93. A little later I was given breakfast. It was the same weak tea in
a plastic bowl and a slice of plain white bread that was placed on the
grill bar for me to take as if I was a beggar.
94. Another knock, another call of number `26' and tired as I was I
stood up, waiting for my captors. This time they came with the blindfolds
and the handcuffs and blindfolded and handcuffed I was once again, alternately
led, guided and dragged by the cuffs up the 50 steps. At the top of the
50 steps the blindfold was taken off and the guard made lewd gestures with
his hands and fingers and then pushed me through the door. I was not made
to turn left as previously but dragged past a maze of doors along the corridor
which was dark save for a red light, as in a darkroom, in the far distance.
I kept fearing the impression of a black abyss that seemed to flank the
corridor on my right and feared stepping off into some sort of void. I
was taken through a final door and walked into a room which was as before
brightly lit.
95. There was one man seated alone at a table. I had never seen him
before. He asked me to sit. I did so and he then asked me for my personal
history. I was too tired to resist or to ask why they were asking for the
same information repeatedly. He wrote everything down. He questioned me
on everything I had done, my childhood, my studies, my work, my family,
everything. It was a long exhausting session.
Everything was `Why?'. Even as to the birth of my children it was `why?
why were they born?', or the death of my father, `why? why did he die?'
At times this officer drove me to desperation and to despair. But he never
stopped hammering away at me.
96. Sometime during this interrogation the original four officers entered
the room and joined this fifth officer. They then took over the interrogation
while the fifth officer left the room. The four reverted to the trend of
the first two days. They warned me and then threatened me and abused me
in turn. They threw questions at me but did not wait for answers. Each
cut into the other's line of questioning and kept interrupting my train
of thought. I was warned that I had been sacked from my jobs, that the
US investigators had completed their work and were about to return with
their recommendation that my green card and citizenship be revoked, that
I still had time to co-operate to save myself and my family, that they
would tell me how I could help the nation and myself. They kept on drumming
into me that my perception of things was wrong, that I had forgotten, that
I had to listen to them. The abuse centered around my penis, its length
and size, human genitalia, vaginal and anal sex. They never stopped talking
about sex, repeatedly stating that they had to fuck Anwar. They made me
simulate anal sex by lying down on the floor. They instructed me to first
`fuck' someone and then be `fucked' by someone. They asked me to groan
and moan while I was doing it.
97. The fifth officer came back into the room and joined the original
four. He took over the questioning but this time went on a new and different
line. He said that he had been to Pakistan, said that sex there was repressed
and regressed. He said that homosexuality was a way of life in Pakistan
and suggested that I should share my sex life details with them.
98. It became apparent that this routine and the haranguing was going
to go on for ever. Truth and my denials were getting me nowhere. I was
at the point of collapse and could not go on. I knew I had to play along
with them.
99. The fifth officer took out a cigarette from a pack that was in his
pocket and offered it to me. I was always given a cigarette from a black
pack. The officers when they smoked always seemed to take cigarettes from
other packs. The cigarette tasted unusual but good. Every time I smoked
one of their cigarettes I felt strangely lightheaded and `woozy'.
100. He suggested that it was natural in Pakistan. I looked at him.
He stared at me and then pointed at my anus. I was dead tired. I nodded
my head. He smiled and said `good'. It now became a sequence where they
asked questions and I nodded in acquiescence and when they asked for details
I made up whatever pleased them. Gradually they made up a story about a
non-existent `Parvez' and some University liaison. They wanted me to be
the active partner and insisted on that feature in the Parvez story. I
denied this but they would have it no other way stating that it was the
Pakistani way of life.
101. The original four interrogators then repeated the fictional Parvez
`story' to me and made me repeat it to them, again and again, all the while
reminding me that my perception of things had been wrong, that I had forgotten
and that they were helping to rehabilitate me and to remind me, insisting
that those in a homosexual relationship cannot give it up.
102. At one point in their haranguing and their suggestions that I was
a homosexual I asked if they knew biology and suggested a medical examination
would confirm homosexuality.
They ignored this and for a long time made me talk about the male and
female sex organs. They wanted graphics and made me draw these, over and
over. They talked incessantly about anal sex, giving me extensive biological
details about the size and shape of the penis in relation to the male anus.
103. They switched, as they pleased, between graphical and explicit
sexual details and threats to me and my family's future, between the good
of Malaysia and Anwar being a threat to the country, between prolonged
detention for me and the promise of non-disturbed sleep, between being
a destitute and penniless and a golden future in a new Malaysia rid of
Anwar, between Pakistani society's repressed sexual urges and University
sexual exploits in the US that they had read about in magazines.
104. They wanted details of University sexual activities in the US and
when I had none to give, refused to take no for an answer. They claimed
they knew all about what happened in Universities in the US, that the girls
did nothing but `screw' all day and all night long, that sex was cheap
and easy and free there. They insisted, again and again, that I had a free
sex life there. They suggested, in turn, the number of times I had sex
a day. One of them would suggest twice daily, then the next would increase
to three, the third officer would suggest five times. They settled finally
on 5 to 6 times a day and kept on repeating the numbers, asking me to tell
them, to tell them, to agree, to agree until in desperation I nodded my
head even though nothing like this had happened. And immediately the let-up
in their intensity of questioning and the comment, "See we told you.
It is there in you. Your perception of things is wrong. We are helping
you." A cigarette from the black pack was always given to me a as
reward whenever I gave in to them.
105. Then they would start again. Again the same style, the same repetitive
questioning. This time they would ask for details of oral sex in US Universities.
They would describe it and then expect me to endorse things. They asked
for names. I had none to give and they wouldn't accept that. They said
I had to give them names. I gave them a fictional name `Joe', and once
again there was an immediate but momentary let-up in intensity. And then
they wanted more details about `Joe' and I had to make them up. When I
did so they gave me a cigarette as a reward. The cigarettes always had
an unusual taste.
106. A long time after `Joe' was created they stopped and after blindfolding
and handcuffing me they sent me back to the cell. Their parting words to
me were that Anwar had brought me to Malaysia to `screw' him, that I should
think about that, that they would see me soon. They shouted `fuck Anwar'
and sent me off.
107. I had by now no idea of what day or date it was. I had no idea
of the time. My last sight of sunshine or the sky had been when I was brought
back from the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. My passage of time was regulated
by the knocks on my cell door, my hasty scurried baths, the scanty breakfasts
I was given, the dreaded journey up the 50 steps and the interminable long
hours in that room with my interrogators.
108. My division of days in this statement is by the number of `breakfasts'
I was served.
109. There was no sleep huddled on that wooden platform in my cell.
110. The ritual hurried bath, accompanied by abuse and rough handling,
and the tea and slice of dangled bread came soon after I was returned to
the cell.
111. Then there was the same knock, the call of my number `26', the
blindfold, the handcuffs and the long climb back to the interrogation chamber.
112. This time there was one Chinese interrogator in the room. He was
alone and he started the interrogation before the others came by once again
taking down my particulars and then questioning me on the Journal that
I had been editing.
113. Shortly after that a second interrogator came in and cut into the
questioning by lecturing me on culture, ideology and religion. He said
that he was educating me. When he tired the Chinese officer took over and
went back to the Journal. They switched between the Journal, the lectures,
my role to Malaysia, the needs of my family, my status, and the cancellation
of my detention order.
114. The other two came in progressively and took their seats. There
was an immediate warning when all four were there that I was wasting their
time and that I had to get on with things, to move on, that their senior
officer was waiting for results. They repeatedly warned me that my detention
order under the Internal Security Act was ready.
115. They asked for dates and times of sexual encounters. I had none
to give. They became angry and abusive and threatening. They went back
to sex in the US and asked for more names.
116. I fabricated an `Andre'. There was again a momentary let-up in
the interrogation, again a statement about my perceptions being wrong,
that I had forgotten, that they were reminding me and correcting them,
again a warning that if I concentrated the pattern would surface, that
I had to have a tendency towards homosexuality. They nodded in agreement,
smiled, gave me a cigarette, claimed to know about this fictitious `Andre'
and said that they had been told about `Andre' by the US agents then in
Kuala Lumpur. 117. `Andre' was someone created by me that morning in absolute
desperation.
118. This went on for a long time.
119. Sometime during the interrogation they brought me a packet of the
same rice and peculiar tasting fried fish that I had been given previously.
All the rice meals they gave me tasted `off' and made me uncomfortable
and `woozy'. I ate what little I could of it but the questioning continued
even during that.
120. They then introduced the previous session's sexual scenario into
the interrogation and started pressurizing me for details. When I had none
to give they asked that I think about them while they waited for their
senior officer to come back. In the meantime they went into other details
and descriptions of oral sex.
121. Then the reverted back to their pattern of interrogation but now
began to concentrate more on Anwar. They reminded me again and again that
Anwar was a homosexual, that I had `fucked' him, that they had proof of
it. They opened a bag, took out some photographs and threw them on the
table. These were normal regular photographs. Two were of me, one alone
and one with a person known as Khalid Jaffar. There was another photograph
of a person they said was `Mior'. I did not know this `Mior'.
122. I remember two of the interrogators leaving at one point and then
returning and bringing with them some of my written work taken from my
house. One of them made an immediate threat when he came in that I was
playing tricks on them. He claimed that he had tried printing material
from a disk taken from my house and was unable to do so because I had hidden
the material. I denied this, telling him that he had been probably unable
to read the file. He warned that the detention order was still pending.
123. Suddenly one of the four screamed at me to stand up. I did so.
All four came from behind the table and surrounded me in a very aggressive
manner as if they were about to assault me. One of them literally had his
face in mine. They all screamed at me, in my ears, loudly, again and again
and again, that I had fucked Anwar, fucked Anwar, fucked, fucked, Anwar,
Anwar. They screamed and screamed and screamed, in my ears, at my face,
at me, again and again, over and over asking me to say `yes' until I gave
in and broke down saying yes, yes. They stopped screaming. That was what
they wanted to hear. They were not interested that it was untrue.
124. They gave me a cigarette and allowed me to smoke it.
125. The interrogation continued.
126. There were frequent interruptions between the interrogators. They
kept switching topics.
127. Whenever it suited them I was made to lie on the floor and simulate
anal sex with Anwar. I was asked to alternate as if I was on top of Anwar
and then Anwar on top of me.
128. All this was humiliating, and depressing and degrading.
It descended into vulgarity both in their actions and in their words.
But they never stopped. They embarrassed me, ridiculed me, laughed at me,
claimed I had a prized arse, reminded me that not many people in the world
had the privilege of `screwing' and being `screwed' by a Deputy Prime Minister.
129. These were all lies but I had to suffer them, listen to them.
130. They repeatedly drilled into my mind that my perceptions were wrong,
that they were educating me, rehabilitating me, showing me how I was helping
Malaysia and my family, that my only way out from there was to give them
what the nation needed.
131. They came back to the issue of sex and placed the photograph of
`Mior' on the table. They asked for details of the man. I told them that
I did not know him. They said I had `screwed' Mior. I denied that.
132. They went back to Anwar and anal sex and my perceptions.
Step by step, by alternately shouting and screaming and questioning,
by cajoling and threatening, by warnings about detention and my family,
they made repeat after them again and again, that I had engaged in sexual
misconduct with Anwar on several occasions. They made me say that I was
sorry about it all, that I was ashamed and repented that all this had happened.
At stages they would stop to ensure that the information had been drilled
into me and would then continue.
They made me say that I was forced into it because I feared for my job
and that if I refused Anwar's advances my employment would be in jeopardy,
that I would lose important financial resources. They made me say that
it hurt me a lot that this kind of behavior was coming from a person who
claimed to be a pious Muslim and that he had betrayed a lot of Muslims
in this country and the whole Muslim world who had looked up to him as
an inspiring leader. They made me say that every time I engaged in this
act it was a disgusting experience for me. These were all lies made up
by the ISA officers.
133. They wanted to fix details and asked me to choose a month. I could
not because there had never been any homosexual relationship between me
and Anwar. There was nothing for me to choose. They said they would help
and then started going through my work in Malaysia. They went through the
details; that I first met Anwar in 1984; that I first came to Malaysia
in 1986; that I only visited in 1986, 1987 and 1988; that I first began
living in Malaysia in 1988. My interrogators were struggling to fix a time.
My interrogators settled on March 1993 because in their interrogations
they determined that after 1993 my speech-writing activities for Anwar
were reduced considerably. This was because Anwar became the Deputy Prime
Minister and Finance Minister and his emphasis was more on finance and
I could not help. Sometimes when an intellectual speech was to be made,
a draft would be faxed to me and I would edit it.
134. They knew from their interrogation of me that in 1993 I lived at
Bukit Damansara with my wife and children.
135. So they picked the month - it would be March 1993. I traveled a
lot at that time and hoped, to myself, that I had been abroad in March
1993 - I could have been in New Delhi, or Casablanca or in Qatar for a
conference or back to my home in the US. I did not tell them this.
136. They determined for the purposes of their fabricated version that
Anwar would call me over for a chat, that this would be about a week or
10 days after he became DPM, that I would go over, that this would be my
last informal contact with him.
137. Then there would be the demand that I endlessly repeat the details
they had settled on until they were drilled into me.
138. And so it went on and on until they had made up the whole story.
There was no rest for me, no let up in the intensity of their interrogation.
139. When they were finally satisfied with my repetition of the details
they switched back to telling me that the higher authorities had been contacted
about me, that they were happy with my co-operation and performance. They
offered me a cigarette and then left me alone in the room for a short while.
140. A little later another officer walked in. This was the person who
eventually took me to see a magistrate for a statement to be recorded from
me. He was very stern when he walked in. He shouted at me to stand up.
I did so. He came and stood in front of me. He said that they were canceling
my identity card, that steps had been taken to send me to the detention
center and then eventually to deport me. He declared that my US citizenship
was in serious jeopardy and that the US agents in Malaysia looking into
things had decided to revoke it. My family had been told to pack up. He
warned me that I had nothing left unless I agreed to serve the country,
that I had only one option and that was to co-operate with them. He then
started on a very emotional speech about loving Malaysia, about sacrifices,
about fighting for and giving one's life in defense of Malaysia, about
defending Malaysia, about going to jail for Malaysia.
He screamed at me whether I was prepared to do all that. He screamed
`answer, answer, answer.' I was stunned and all I could say was `yes, yes,
yes'. He thumped his shoes on the floor, raised his arm in the air and
shouted `Hidup Malaysia' and then turned and walked out.
141. I stood rooted to the floor and was still standing when the four
interrogators walked back in. They asked me to sit and told me I had done
a good job. They offered me a cigarette and told me that it was only 4
to 5 months and that I shouldn't worry. This was the first time there had
been any mention of these 4 to 5 months and I asked them what they meant.
They said that was the sentence I would get. I protested but they said
I was not to worry. They offered me another cigarette and laughed and said
I had a great `cock'.
142. The earlier officer walked back in again. He asked me to stand
again and told me that he had spoken to his seniors and everything had
to be done that day, that night. He was waiting for his senior officers
to arrive. He left the room in the same way, a thump with his feet on the
floor, a raised arm and a screamed `Hidup Malaysia'.
143. A little later he returned and spoke privately to the four interrogators.
Two of the four then left the room. At this point four new officers walked
in. I had never seen them before. All those in the room saluted the four
newcomers.
Three of the newcomers went and sat in the chairs that had been originally
occupied by the four interrogators. One of the four stood near the door.
The `Hidup Malaysia' officer also remained standing. The remaining two
original interrogators now left the room, shutting the door behind them.
The others addressed the man who sat in the middle as `Dato'.
144. This `Dato' spoke first in a cold tone. He started by telling me
that they were after Anwar and that they wanted him. He said that Anwar
had done great damage to the nation and that I could help them a lot by
agreeing to admit to a homosexual liaison with Anwar. He added that this
would be a service to the nation and would be a sacrifice for which I would
be handsomely rewarded, that all my problems would be resolved, that I
would be given Malaysian citizenship, that I would be given very well paid
jobs and more importantly that I would be a free man and that my family
would remain intact.
He assured me that they would liase with the US agents to resolve my
US citizenship status satisfactorily. He said that his officers had told
him I had agreed to die for the nation but that he had no desire to punish
me since I was a victim of Anwar's lust and after all what was 4 to 5 months
when compared to death. He concluded by telling me that by helping them
to get Anwar I was helping to rid the nation of a traitor and that they
were after Anwar and not me.
145. The man on the Dato's left then took over. He said that they would
arrange for me to be taken to make a statement of a sexual liaison with
Anwar and that things would be all right after that. He said that they
would make all these arrangements subtly, that their officer would brief
me further on the language but that they could not come into the picture
as otherwise Anwar and his men would accuse the police. He made no mention
of court proceedings, of a sentence or of a jail though he kept assuring
me to believe in them and to trust that they would look after all of my
and my family's needs. They consoled me that my wife could call on them
for help at any time and that my safety and that of my family was their
main concern.
146. I was numb from fear and worry.
147. When he was finished the three seated officers stood up.
The junior officers saluted, everyone of them shouted `Hidup Malaysia'
and they all left.
148. This must have been very late into the night. I was left alone
for a few minutes. Then all the four interrogators walked in. One came
over and slapped me on my back and said that I had done a good job and
that they could now `fuck' Anwar Ibrahim.
149. One of the four interrogators left the room. A little later he
returned with their `senior' officer. The senior officer told me that he
was happy with me and that my NRIC would not be canceled. He added that
he would discuss the details of the matter with his seniors and would come
back to me but that in the meantime I should think about things and should
rest.
150. I was then blindfolded and handcuffed and taken down the 50 steps
and returned to my cell.
151. Once again I was asked to take an early hurried bath and then given
my tea and slice of bread. But unlike the previous days I was not after
that immediately taken to the
interrogation room. Instead I was left in my cell.
152. Some time later one of the guards came into the cell and told me
that they were taking me out. I did not understand what he meant. He handed
me the clothes and slippers that I had been wearing when I was arrested
and asked me to get dressed.
153. I was then once again handcuffed and blindfolded and led out of
the cell. I think I was taken one or two floors down and then put into
a vehicle. I recollect the vehicle being driven for a long time. It then
stopped and I heard a door being opened and a short while later my blindfold
was removed. I noticed I was in a van with oversized blacked-out windows.
They immediately replaced the blindfold with a pair of glasses which were
"fuzzy" and did not allow me to focus.
154. They then transferred me to the back seat of a Proton car. I was
wedged between two officers. The car moved off and after a short drive
someone suddenly removed the fuzzy glasses . I noticed that we were in
the vicinity of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. One of the officers beside
me put a jacket over my handcuffs, presumably to hide them. I noticed that
the car was being driven erratically. One of the officers pushed me down
on the seat so that I could not be seen.
155. When the car stopped I found that I was at Bukit Aman. I was asked
to get out of the car and one of the officers removed my handcuffs. I then
saw one of the senior officers who had interrogated me walking towards
the car. He spoke to two of the officers who had been in the Proton car.
The three of them took me to a cafeteria where they ordered some food.
This was the first meal I had had since my arrest.
156. While we were at the cafeteria Inspector Mazlan who had arrested
me came to the table and told me that that he was now handing me over to
another officer. There was an Indian officer with him at that time. This
Indian officer was later identified to me when I was warded in the Cardiac
Rehabilitation Ward of the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital as `Rajakopal'.
I am now told by my lawyers that Rajakopal is the named complainant on
the charge sheet filed against me in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. I
had never met or seen this Rajakopal before that day. This Rajakopal only
stayed there a short while.
157. Throughout the period I was at that cafeteria the three interrogators
stayed with me.
158. After Rajakopal left, the senior officer once again started telling
me that my family would be proud of me and that they were safe. He reminded
me that I was doing them and the nation a great service for which I would
be remembered.
He then said it was time to take me for the statement to be recorded
from me the way I had been briefed the night before and then added as an
obvious warning that all my Internal Security Act detention problems would
be resolved after I had given the statement.
159. They again put me in the car and hid me by making me bend forward.
When the car finally stopped and I was taken out I noticed that I was in
the Court complex.
160. At the Court while we were walking I was constantly being reminded
of what I had to say in my statement to the magistrate.
161. We sat down in one of the rooms for a while. I think they were
having trouble because photographers were following them. They wanted to
avoid the exposure. We went to an office on 2nd or 3rd Floor. They had
hustled me through a maze of corridors. I could not keep track of where
we were going. I was then brought down and made to walk to a room where
I was told a magistrate was waiting.
162. ASP Mazlan had accompanied me to the Magistrate's Court.
A senior ISA officer was also there. ASP Mazlan went into the Magistrate's
room and took me in. The ISA officer waited outside.
163. The Magistrate talked to me in Malay. I said that I needed an interpreter.
An interpreter, I think he was called Affendi, was brought in. At that
point the Magistrate told ASP Mazlan and the other police officers who
had accompanied him to leave the room. That left only me, the Magistrate
and Affendi in that room.
164. The Magistrate wrote some particulars on some ruled paper. She
had some sort of guide-sheet on her left to which she kept referring. She
wrote a paragraph or so; her name, etc. .... am here with ....my name....
She wrote and read it back to me.
165. She asked me whether I agreed; whether I wanted to change anything
or add anything, etc.
166. I said, "no".
167. She wrote my name, her name, my I/C., her I/C No., etc.
168. Then she signed and asked me to sign.
169. At some point she asked if I was there of my own free will and
made a remark about my being alone in her room. I didn't know whether to
laugh or cry because she was completely missing the point that I had been
brought there by my captors and interrogators, that they were waiting outside
her room and that when I was finished I was going to be handed back to
them and taken back to my small cell. My life and my freedom and that of
my family was in the hands of the police. They would surely know everything
that was done or said in that room and they had in fact told me that they
would get a copy of what had been recorded there, so what free will could
I exercise.
170. The irony of her writing that I was making a statement of my own
free will and reading back that statement to me and then asking me to sign
it hit me very hard. She read back that statement to me. She signed. She
asked me to sign. She repeated that only the three of us were present in
that room.
We signed again.
171. She then asked me to give my statement.
172. I narrated all that I had been asked to state by my captors.
173. After she recorded my statement I signed as she requested. When
she was finished she called back ASP Mazlan.
The other Internal Security Act officers were waiting outside. After
I had been handed back to ASP Mazlan and the Internal Security Act officers,
I was handcuffed, placed in a car and taken to Bukit Aman. There I was
made to sit in a room in the Tower Block. I think this was on the 10th
floor in ASP Mazlan's office.
174. While there I was once again fingerprinted and photographed.
175. A little later ASP Mazlan came to me and commented on the statement
I had given to the Magistrate. He said that it was weak and that it had
no dates or time in it or places or details. I told him that my interrogators
the previous night, in particular the senior officer, had briefed me on
what to say in the statement. In fact that senior officer had reminded
me once again that afternoon of what was at stake in my life if I did not
stick to what was expected of me.
176. ASP Mazlan then asked me whether I had a lawyer. I said I did not.
He said to me that I was not to worry and that he had one for me. ASP Mazlan
never at this point of time, or before or after that, tell me that my wife
had already engaged a lawyer for me and that that lawyer had already been
in contact with Police Headquarters right from the first day of my arrest.
177. He then made a telephone call and spoke to someone. I did not know
who he was talking to. He mentioned a name to me - Yacob Karim - and after
telling me that he was to be my lawyer handed the phone to me. This Yacob
Karim reminded me that we had met at a conference in Sarawak. This was
once some six years ago. I had never met this Yacob Karim after that and
did not know where his office was or his telephone numbers. I was nevertheless
relieved that here at last was someone I had met, even if once six years
ago, and that perhaps I would get some assistance from him. Yacob Karim
said that he would see me soon. I thought I was speaking to Yacob Karim
while he was in his office.
178. About 5 to 10 minutes later ASP Mazlan said to me that he was taking
me to this lawyer, Yacob Karim. We left his office and ASP Mazlan took
along a copy of the statement recorded by the Magistrate.
179. I was mentally prepared to being driven out of Bukit Aman to some
office somewhere. Instead the elevator stopped at either the 3rd or 5th
floor. I thought that ASP Mazlan was stopping there to pick something else
up. He asked me to get out and follow him. We entered a room in which I
saw a table and two chairs. I was asked to sit. Hardly had I done so when
this Yacob Karim walked in through another door.
180. All I can say is that it was a pre-arranged thing and that when
ASP Mazlan spoke to Yacob Karim a little earlier this Yacob Karim was already
there in the Police Headquarters..
181. Yacob Karim sat at the table across from me. His first statement
to me was that he was sorry that it, the sodomy, had happened to me. I
was shocked at this as it showed that he had been briefed by the police
and even more shocked that he believed it. He had a copy of the statement
with him.
182. ASP Mazlan and another unidentified police officer were present
throughout the time I was with Yacob Karim.
183. Yacob Karim then proceeded to tell me that arrangements were being
made and that I would be taken to a Sessions Court the next day and that
I would have to plead guilty to a charge and to admit to the offense. I
asked him why I was being asked to plead guilty and he replied that otherwise
they could not proceed with the case against Anwar. He said arrangements
had been made to get me a light sentence. To every question that I asked
him after that he gave me a stock answer - "Don't ask me. Ask the
Police." 184. He then proceeded to ask some brief questions about
my background, made some handwritten notes and added that he had got my
background from the police. He kept assuring me throughout that the sentence
would be lenient and that it would be a few months. I tried telling him
that I had done no wrong but he in reply told me that I should not worry
and that I was doing a great service to the nation, that the nation of
Malaysia would remember me for these services.
185. Yacob Karim left after that.
186. Yacob Karim never at any time spoke about fees or being retained
by me or about informing my wife about my situation.
I am now not surprised at the way he attended to me that afternoon since
his conduct then and subsequently clearly showed that he was working together
with the police in denying me my rights.
187. After Yacob Karim left, three of my previous interrogators came
into the room. One of them was the Malay officer who had persistently interrogated
me since my move to the interrogation center. They reminded me of the arrangements
made for the next day and warned me of the consequences if things went
wrong. I was reminded that my family was vulnerable and that my sacrifice
was small for their and my well-being. I was told that the US agents were
waiting for the next day's proceedings and would leave after that and that
my US citizenship was secure. I was told that the nation was proud of me,
that it was only a small favor for Malaysia.
188. I was cautioned to be strong the next day and to plead guilty as
the lawyer had told me to do. I was told that I had to believe the senior
ISA officers and that all their promises would be fulfilled. They told
me that I had to understand their difficulties because Anwar's people were
now my enemies and that they would try to burn my house down and to hurt
me and my family. They said that I had to be away for 5 to 6 months so
that things would quieten down but that after I come out of prison there
would be a job waiting for me. During these 5 to 6 months, they said, my
family would be looked after and that they had already talked to my wife.
My wife now tells me that no one from the Police Headquarters called her
or gave her any information about my whereabouts.
189. After all these warnings I was locked up in a cell at Bukit Aman
and left for the night.
190. By next morning I was a wreck of a man with worry. I was asked
to dress in the same clothes that I had worn when arrested. I had slippers
on my feet and was given a skull cap to wear to hide my bald head.
191. I was taken to the Court complex by ASP Mazlan and several other
police officers. They adopted various cloak and dagger tactics to initially
keep me hidden and away from the hordes of photographers there. I was finally
taken into a court. I was shivering and my palpitations were very strong.
My breathing was labored and I had difficulty controlling my bladder.
I remember at some stage somebody giving me something to wear to stop the
shivering but it did not help.
I remember at some point in the middle of the court proceedings being
no more able to control my bladder and having to be allowed to go and urinate.
192. I was then taken into a Court by ASP Mazlan and many other police
officers. Yacob Karim was in that Court. I saw ASP Mazlan and the other
police officers spread themselves around the Court. Yacob Karim came to
me and handed me two documents. He said it was the charge which I had to
admit. I saw the documents for the first time that morning. Even in my
condition I was shocked at the details. Yacob Karim told me not to question
anything, just to plead guilty and then, when asked, to acknowledge that
I knew I could be punished for the offense. He then showed me another sheet
which he said were the facts of the case. He said that when the facts were
read to me I was to admit them and say nothing else. He told me that he
would attend to the rest and that everything had been taken care of.
193. At one point before the judge came into the Court I saw a man come
near me. He said that he was a lawyer and that my wife had appointed him
to act for me. This man pointed at Yacob Karim and asked who he was. Yacob
Karim came to where I was and stood there. This man spoke to me rather
abruptly and asked who appointed Yacob. I pointed at ASP Mazlan. ASP Mazlan
appeared angry and immediately gestured that I shouldn't involve him and
pointed towards Yacob. I saw some of the other plainclothes police officers
start to move. I panicked, wondering what was about to happen and feared
for my wife and children. Yacob who had been quiet suddenly found his voice
and said he was my lawyer. I lost control of myself then, out of sheer
fright. My head was full of the Internal Security Act, the threats made
to me and my family, the presence of the police there in the court, the
warnings that Anwar supporters would kill me and my family, the need to
keep secret the details of the police as they had demanded. I felt that
if I made a single move that displeased the police my family would be hurt,
that they would bring down their full force to bear down on my wife and
my two young children.
I had already felt the force of their strength.
194. I screamed at this lawyer words to the effect that he had no right
to communicate with my wife or to invade my privacy. I hoped with that
outburst to appease my captors so that they would leave my family alone.
I then spoke out loud for ASP Mazlan and the other police officers to hear
that I had nothing to do with that lawyer coming there.
195. At some point when I was in that court I saw my wife there. She
appeared petrified, as if cast in stone. She seemed unable to move like
an animal caught in the glare of the headlights of a moving car. She didn't
even blink. She was totally helpless. So was I.
196. This was the first time I had ever been in a Court. I haven't even
had a parking violation in my 23 years of continuous living in the US.
197. The proceedings moved fast after that. I did what the police expected
of me. I was trembling uncontrollably throughout the proceedings. Even
a jacket which was placed over me did not stop me from shaking and shivering
uncontrollably. No one seemed to care. The words, sounds, sights all floated
around me as if I was in a daze. Yacob's mitigation was now in a written
form. I was sentenced and then handcuffed. Yacob came to me and told me
not to worry.
ASP Mazlan came to me and said I now had to face the cameras.
I was taken out and met by hordes of photographers. I was moved to a
cell in the Court complex. Before leaving me there ASP Mazlan came once
again to me and said that the Inspector General of Police was very happy
with the way I had handled myself in Court.
198. After the Court proceedings I was sent to Kajang Prison and from
there, on 23 September 1998, because of my deteriorating health, I was
rushed to the Institute Jantong Negara (National Heart Institute) and then
transferred to the Coronary Rehabilitation Ward [Ward 29] at the Kuala
Lumpur General Hospital.
199. While I was at the CRW (Ward 29) in the General Hospital I was
visited at various times by police officers together with Yacob Karim.
They were uninvited visitors who kept on trying to alternately threaten,
convince and advise me against filing or proceeding with an appeal against
the false conviction and sentence recorded against me on 19 September 1998
by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. One of the officers who came to the
CRW ward 29 was a Chief Inspector Rajakopal whose name is recorded as the
complainant on the charge sheet filed in Sessions Court in my case.
200. The Prison Officers guarding me at the General Hospital are maintaining
a log book of all my movements and visitors while in Hospital. This has
records of the various visits by Yacob Karim and the police officers coming
together, sometimes beyond regular visiting hours or days.
201. I state categorically that I have never had a homosexual relationship
with Anwar Ibrahim or with anyone else. I further state categorically that
the details of the alleged homosexual relationship contained in my statement
made to the Magistrate and those given to the Court by the prosecuting
agencies and Yacob Karim on 19 September 1998 were untrue and were fabricated
by the police.
202. I was interrogated over long and continuous sessions. I was always
removed from my cell as No: 26, always blindfolded and handcuffed. I was
systematically humiliated by my captors who always remained unidentified.
They stripped me of all self-respect; they degraded me and broke down my
will and resistance; they threatened me and my family; they frightened
me; they brainwashed me to the extent that I ended up in Court on 19 September
1998 a shivering shell of a man willing to do anything to stop the destruction
of my being.
203. I have done no wrong and I am innocent. I am a happily married
man with two lovely children. I was just doing my work and enjoying it.
My captors and my interrogators have destroyed all that. They have wrongly
made me a criminal and taken away my freedom. They have destroyed my self
confidence and embarrassed me. They have shattered the peace, harmony and
happiness of my family and my simple home.
204. I have had a long standing world wide reputation of being a respected
intellectual individual. It took me years of hard work to achieve this
status. The bibliography of my work annexed to this sworn declaration is
testimony of my work. My captors for the purposes of their criminal objectives
have unjustly destroyed my image.
205. I did no wrong and I am innocent. God knows that.
and I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same
to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations
Act, 1960.
Subscribed and solemnly declared by the above-named Munawar Ahmad
Anees
sd Munawar Ahmad Anees
NRIC No:480927-71-5139) at Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, this
7th day of Nov, 1998)
Before me,
Manmohan Singh a/l Chanan Singh ...................................................
(Commissioner for Oaths, Malaysia)
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