Ex-Police Chief Recounts His Beating of Anwar
International Herald Tribune
March 3, 1999
Thomas Fuller

Abdul Rahim Noor, the police chief who beat Anwar Ibrahim in September, offered for the first time his account of the incident in testimony Tuesday that sharply contrasted with that of police officers who witnessed the beating as well as with Mr. Anwar's account.

Mr. Rahim, who resigned this year as the country's top police officer, told a three-man panel looking into the beating that he "lost his sense of control" and slapped Mr. Anwar, the former deputy prime minister, on the left and right side of the head, but that the assault lasted just a "split second."

Earlier accounts, including that from Mr. Anwar and doctors who examined him, described a pummeling that included at least seven blows and could have been fatal.

Mr. Rahim testified as the panel was winding down its eight-day inquiry into the beating, which shocked the country when it was made public last year and galvanized opposition groups.

They regarded it as a symbol of injustice and police brutality under the 18-year-old rule of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad.

Without prompting, Mr. Rahim stressed that he acted alone.

"I wish to make it clear that my act as referred to was not prompted, abetted, advised, directed or assisted by anyone else," he said, reading from notes in his lap. "Not even by my police officers. Not even the prime minister."

Cross-examined by Mr. Anwar's lawyer, who pointed to many disparities between the former police chief's testimony and that of his colleagues, Mr. Rahim said he could not remember any other blows delivered to Mr. Anwar besides the two slaps.

"I could have done it; I may not have done it," Mr. Rahim said in a matter-of-fact tone. When he was pressed further by Mr. Anwar's lawyers, a panel member interrupted.

"We have the doctors' evidence," Mahadev Shankar, a retired judge, told Mr. Anwar's lawyer. "We will draw our own conclusions."

Although the panel does not have the power to prosecute, it will offer its assessment of the case to the country's attorney general once it has finished interviewing witnesses.

Testimony by other police officers in the case has sharply differed with that of Mr. Rahim, who says the former deputy prime minister provoked him by calling him the "father of all dogs."

A police officer who was down the hall from Mr. Anwar's cell when the beating occurred said Tuesday that he heard shouts of pain followed by: "Don't hit me! Why are you hitting me? Allah!"

He said he then saw two police officers restraining Mr. Rahim. One of them pulled him by his belt away from Mr. Anwar as the other pushed him out of the cell and held the police chief's hand in the air, the officer testified to the panel.

Mr. Anwar was handcuffed and blindfolded at the time of the beating and was denied medical treatment for four days after the incident.

Currently facing sodomy and corruption charges, Mr. Anwar was not present at the hearing Tuesday, despite protests from his lawyer, who said he should be able to face his assailant.

"As far as the commission is concerned, we do not require the presence of Dato Seri Anwar any further," said Anuar Zainal Abidin, head of the panel. Dato Seri is an honorific given to the country's most prominent citizens.

Before he fell out with his boss, Prime Minister Mahathir, and was dismissed from the government in September Mr. Anwar was the second-ranking politician in the country.

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