Another CSM by C&P because I feel this is important...

FROM THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER, while I start soon On Da Move:)


Fumbles by the men in blue
ANALYSIS
KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — One of the early decisions the Abdullah administration made when fresh sodomy allegations surfaced against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last month revolved around the need to win the perception battle.

Many of those in the government today were around in 1998 — when Anwar faced similar charges — and they argued against the pitfalls of using the sledgehammer approach against the former deputy prime minister favoured 10 years ago. Then, every politician from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad downwards commented freely on the police investigation, feeding the perception that the sodomy case against Anwar was nothing more than a conspiracy to end his political life.

His detention under the Internal Security Act, his assault at the hands of the then Inspector-General of Police and the saturation coverage which pronounced him guilty even before he stepped into the dock combined to give the administration and country a black eye.

So, government officials were determined to do it differently in 2008. It was decided that only Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar be allowed to comment on the case — and even then sparingly. Senior editors of the mainstream media were told to go easy and wait for official announcements, and refrain from a trial in the media.

Internally, it was also decided that every attempt would be made to answer each allegation from Anwar and his supporters as speedily as possible, and that would be the job of the lead agency in the probe — the police.

That was the plan.

Nearly a week later, and the administration is finding out that even well-laid plans to win the public perception battle can get tangled up in a knot. Especially when left in the hands of the police — an institution whose best days of winning the hearts and minds of the public are long gone.

Here is a short list of fumbles by the men in blue:

• Blockading parts of Kuala Lumpur and taking out a court order prohibiting Anwar and his supporters from entering within a 5km radius of the Parliament building.

• Arresting him outside his home before a deadline set by the police for him to report to the KL headquarters to be questioned in connection with the sodomy charge. The sight of him being escorted by a phalanx of police personnel was counter-productive.

• Making him sleep on a cement floor while in detention. Sure, every remand prisoner or suspect cannot expect five-star treatment but this is an exceptional case. The man in custody is the leader of the Opposition and in the eyes of some Malaysians, the next prime minister.

• Refusing him or his lawyers access to the police report lodged by his accuser, Saiful Bukhary Azlan, a former aide who claims that he was sodomised by Anwar on June 26.

Little wonder, the government is playing catch up on the international front. The International Crisis Group, of which Anwar is a member, said in a statement: "The allegations against him remain and are clearly a deliberate attempt to smear him. We call on the Malaysian government to drop the charges against Anwar Ibrahim and for its leaders not to improperly use the police and judiciary for their partisan purposes.''

The statement was signed by Chris Patten, former European Commissioner for External Relations; Ambassador Thomas R Pickering, former US Ambassador to the UN, and Gareth Evans, a former Australian diplomat.

Even at home, police action or inaction has been criticised. Tunku Abdul Aziz, a member of the Royal Commission on the Police Force, wrote in the New Straits Times: "The severely-battered police image took another self-inflicted beating, which could have been avoided without sacrificing the object of the whole exercise, which was to take Anwar into custody.''

Privately, government officials concede that Anwar holds the edge in the public perception stakes but believe that the former DPM has also been scarred in the psychological war, namely over his refusal to offer a blood sample for DNA testing.

A government official said: "The police do not like outside interference. They are the lead agency in the investigation and pretty much decide what information comes out and when it does. They decide what action to take and how to execute it. We have decided that this is way we are going to handle the investigation this time.''

As Week 1 of the Anwar sodomy saga showed, the police and the government have a steep learning curve to negotiate if they want to win the confidence of the public and foreigners.