Review & Outlook : The Case Against Anwar

WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA - It’s been a month since an aide to Anwar Ibrahim accused the Malaysian opposition leader of sodomy, yet no formal charge has been filed nor has Mr. Anwar been allowed to see the police report filed against him. Now, the case against Mr. Anwar looks shakier still.

Yesterday, Mr. Anwar’s supporters pointed to an independent political blog, MalaysiaToday, which posted a two-page medical report it said was written by a doctor who examined Saiful Bukhari Azlan on June 28, the day the aide went to the police with his complaint. The alleged report is written in shorthand and signed by Dr. Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid. It says that a rectal examination showed no active bleeding, tears or injury.

The hospital yesterday confirmed that Dr. Mohamed is on staff, but wouldn’t comment on the report. MalaysiaToday’s editor, Raja Petra Kamarudin, confirmed to us by telephone that he has seen the original report. Dr. Mohamed hasn’t been seen since the post on MalaysiaToday. A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s office declined comment to us. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police told the New Straits Times that investigations were continuing.

This great wall of silence raises many questions. If it’s true that Mr. Anwar’s aide didn’t present any physical signs of injury at the hospital, then on what basis was the police report filed? If the aide went to a government hospital to get a second opinion — as required under the law in sodomy cases, and as the first doctor suggested — what did that second doctor see? And why is the accuser, Mr. Saiful, still formally under police protection?

This has hallmarks of a case being built after, not before, the purported “crime.” In 1998 — the last time Mr. Anwar was accused of sodomy — the prosecution’s case centered around an alleged semen-stained mattress and DNA taken under false pretenses from Mr. Anwar. The police’s handling of the evidence was so flawed that in 2004, Malaysia’s highest court overturned the conviction. Now, the police have requested that Mr. Anwar provide DNA samples again. To what end?

Yesterday, news of the doctor’s report circulated quickly on blogs. Mr. Anwar’s People’s Justice Party released a statement calling for “a complete disclosure of the ‘facts’ of this case to the public.” The Malaysian Bar Association, in a statement, said the “credibility of the Malaysian justice system as a whole” is at stake.

And therein lies the crux of the matter. The case against Mr. Anwar in 1998 was politically motivated and was overturned. Ten years later, the legal system is again being put to the test. The longer the police wait to make their case public, the more questions will be raised about their conclusions.