A police officer today told an independent commission early on the morning of June 29 - two hours after a woman detainee was filmed doing ear squats in the nude - that he was shown the video clip by his colleague.

Lance corporal Mohd Suhaimi Nordin said he was on duty at the Taman Sri Manja police beat when his colleague, constable Dzulfatah Saari, showed him the clip on his hand-phone.

He said that Dzulfatah, who was on night shift, had left the police beat at 3:30am "to do his rounds and to have breakfast" before returning at 7:30 that morning with the video clip on his mobile phone.

Suhaimi was testifying on the second day of an independent inquiry to investigate the scandal which has sparked public outrage in Malaysia and China.

The woman ordered to do 'ear-squats' in the nude in the infamous video-clip was identified today as a Malay Malaysian , ending widespread speculation that she is a Chinese national.

Media organisations, however, have been barred by the commission from publishing her name, photo and other personal details.

Where did the clip come from?

When Suhaimi asked why Dzulfatah's rounds had taken so long on the morning of Nov 29, his colleague replied that he had "stopped by" at the Petaling Jaya (PJ) district police headquarters a few kilometres away before returning to the beat.

Suhaimi said Dzulfatah did not tell him where he had obtained the video clip but did inform him that the woman in the video was a female Malay detainee at a police lock-up "who had been arrested by narcotics officers".

On viewing the 71-second video clip , Suhaimi said he recognised the locker room where the incident took place as the one at the PJ district police headquarters.

"I told him (Dzulfatah) that 'while people were going to the surau (prayer place), you were watching these kinds of things," said Suhaimi referring to the sound of Quranic recitation audible on the clip.

"I chided him and told him not to keep images like these (on his hand-phone)," he said, adding that Dzulfatah had promised he would delete the clip.

Suhaimi also said that he had read in Malay daily Utusan Malaysia the next day of the arrest by PJ police officers of five men and one Malay woman in connection with a drug case.

In late November, after he saw a television report on the controversy involving the video clip, Suhaimi said he met with chief inspector Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, officer-in-charge of the PJ district police station to dispute media reports that the detainee was a Chinese national.

Abdul Aziz told him that police investigations were already underway.

Zul Fatah may not testify

When approached after the inquiry proceedings, one of the lawyers facilitating the inquiry said Dzulfatah may not be called as a witness.

The lawyer, who has requested anonymity, said that as a rule witnesses are not willing to give evidence which could incriminate themselves.

This is despite that there are provisions ensuring that witnesses will not be incriminated by their testimony except in cases of perjury or fabrication.

However, he said such witnesses could still be charged for an offence under a different set of evidence by a separate prosecuting agency.

"He cannot be charged based on evidence (presented) here," he said.

The lawyer also stressed that the commission's investigation was restricted to its narrow terms of reference.

According to him, it was not part of the commission's brief to identify the person who had filmed the nude ear squats.

"We must refer to the terms of reference," said the lawyer.

One of the terms of reference is for the commission to identify the detainee seen in the video clip doing 'ear squats' in the nude.

As the woman has been confirmed not to be one of the five Chinese nationals who were earlier arrested and detained by police, the commission now has to:

  • investigate the handling of the body search of the woman conducted in the video clip and to determine whether there was any impropriety in the handling of the body search and

  • to investigate the standard operating procedure, approaches or regulations in the handling of body search in connection with the arrest and detention by the police, and to propose any changes if needed.