Health DG joins fray in sodomy case
Malaysiakini.com
Aug 25, 2008 
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz

Health Director-General Dr Ismail Merican today denounced pamphlets claiming opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim was innocent of sodomising his former personal aide by citing a medical report that found no evidence of sexual assault on the alleged victim.
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mohd ismail merican 01"I hope the public would not be influenced, be caught up by what is in the flyer. That is just a piece of paper. We cannot make assumptions or suspicions based on the contents of the flyer," he told a press conference in Subang Jaya.

“Whether it is true or not, let the court decide in the proper manner,” he added.

Anwar, the de facto leader of opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat, is in the last lap of an all-out, no-holds-barred by-election fight in Permatang Pauh, to be held tomorrow.

His main rival for the parliamentary seat is Arif Shah Omar Shah, the candidate put up by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Although favoured to win, the charismatic 61-year old politician is hounded by allegation of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. Anwar has pleaded not guilty to the charge he claims was fabricated to kill his political comeback.

Neutral stand
 
With balloting due to take place tomorrow, Ismail asserted his neutrality, saying he was only carrying out his duty to ensure that doctors abided by rules governing their profession.

“I’m not saying this or that. As a doctor, I must make sure that my doctors, registered medical practitioners, do things professionally and with ethical considerations and abide by the code of professional conduct,” he said.

saiful bukhari azlan and anwar ibrahim 150808 2He was referring to Dr Mohd Osman Abdul Hamid, who examined Saiful at the Pusrawi Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur four hours before the latter lodged a police report against his former boss.

Mohd Osman had written in his report that he ruled out sodomy and referred Saiful to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

However, Ismail said ruling out sodomy was not the same as confirming there was no sodomy.

“Looking at that flyer, he has indicated something to rule out assault, sodomy. So in medical literature, to rule out means, you have to rule it out. It doesn’t confirm anything.

“Of course, he has put his findings there, and we respect his findings. He is a doctor who examined (Saiful). We don’t question his findings,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, he didn’t say anything confirmatory. All he said was to rule out assault or sodomy, and advised the person to go to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital,” he added.                    

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