Even two days is long enough an anguish for a bereaved mother, what more if it has been two years of waiting to bury her son.

This what Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had to say today when he met G Sara Lily, who has been involved in a protracted legal battle over the remains of an unidentified corpse, which she is certain is her son.

Nazri also assured the grieving mother that he would attempt to persuade Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to intervene in the matter.

Presently, an inquest is underway to determine the identity of the decomposed body lying in a hospital morgue since May 2004. Sara Lily maintained that the body belongs to her son G Francis Udayappan based on a teeth deformity and tattoo.

Francis ( right ), a police detainee, was said to have escaped from custody in April 2004. A month later, a body was fished out from the Klang river but despite Sara Lily claiming that it was the remains of her 24-year-old son, a DNA test had ruled it out.

Sara Lily had also accused the police of beating her son to death and then dumping his body into a river. However the authorities have ruled out any foul play.

'Mental torture'

Commenting further, Nazri was confident that as a mother Sara Lily would be capable of recognising the remains of her own son.

"Definitely, a mother can recognise her own son. Even with DNA test the matter cannot be resolved [...] Something is wrong here.

"I see this as more to mentally torture the parents of the deceased," he told a press conference after meeting Sara Lily and receiving a memorandum on police abuse from the Police Watch and Human Rights Committee at the Parliament building.

The minister urged Sara Lily to immediately forward a letter to the premier on the matter, which he promised to follow up on.

"Two years is too long. Even two days is too long [...] She will still be scarred after losing her son, but at least there must be finality," he said, adding that he would try to seek the release of the body.

Watchdog for all

In another development, Nazri referred to the police's objection to the implementation of the Independent Police and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as 'unrelenting'.

"I have told the police that during these times, if you (the police) don't want the commission, then you make sure you behave yourself. But they are very unrelenting (in objecting)," he said.

Despite the objections from the police and Umno , Nazri hoped that a body to handle complaints on all government enforcement agencies would be implemented this year.

"My personal view is that we will have a complaints and misconduct commission, but not strictly for the police. That is my stand," he said.

He said there had been steady progress in the study of such a commission, adding that a government delegation was studying similar bodies in Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The formation of the IPCMC was among the 125 recommendations outlined by the Royal Police Commission in 2004.