A witness testifying at the Apcet II hearing today identified a key leader of the mob that stormed the controversial international conference 10 years ago as Umno Youth leaders from a set of photos.

When the hearing of the multi-million ringgit law suit resumed this morning at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Dr Syed Husin Ali, 69, was asked to examine 44 photos which had been earlier submitted to the court as evidence.

Syed Husin, who was under cross-examination by senior federal counsel Kamaludin Mohd Said, was asked to point out the Umno Youth leaders whom he had earlier named during his testimony on Wednesday.

Kamaludin: You said you saw Saifuddin Nasution (Ismail), Ruslan Khamis and Mustapha Yaakub. Who are they?

Syed Husin: There are photos (pointing out the specific photos where Saifuddin appeared).

Kamaludin: So who had drenched you with water?

Syed Husin: There were three persons who had attacked me but I don't recognise them. But I recognised the one who had poured water over my head. He was Lokman Adam.

Kamaludin: Was he from Barisan Bertindak Rakyat Malaysia (BBRM, or Malaysia's People's Action Front)?

Syed Husin: Yes, and he was also with Umno Youth.

At this point, High Court justice Wan Adnan Muhamad, who was flipping through the photos, commented that he could also identify some members from MCA Youth from the T-shirts they were wearing.

Wan Adnan: Isn't Saifuddin with PKR now?

Syed Husin: (Grins) Yes. Lokman had also joined PKR for a while, but Ruslan Kassim has since returned to Umno.

Syed Husin, who is deputy president of opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), was the third witness to testify on behalf of the plaintiffs.

The RM83 million suit was filed by 33 prominent local human rights activists and journalists for wrongful detention on the opening day of the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II) after a Umno Youth-led mob stormed the conference hall at a hotel in 1996.

Syed Husin had earlier told the court that none of the conference participants was allowed to leave the hall after police had ordered the members of the mob to disperse.

According to him, police officers were stationed at all doors of the conference hall and he had to be escorted by the police when he sought to go to the toilet.

During cross-examination, Syed Husin agreed to Kamaludin's suggestion that the police's action in ordering the mob to leave the hall was "perhaps intended" to diffuse the tense situation.

However, he disagreed with the suggestion that the participants were not allow to leave was to "protect" them from the mob.

"When I was escorted to the toilet, I couldn't see any member of the mob around the area," he said.

Light moments

The witness was also grilled over his testimony that one of the non-participants who were allowed by the police to remain in the conference hall after other members of the mob were told to leave was a Special Branch officer.

Justice Wan Adnan quipped at this juncture: "The branch from which tree?"

Syed Husin then explained to the court that he could recognised the Special Branch officer because he had met the plainclothes police officer on various occasions when he helped squatters from being evicted.

When Kamaludin ( photo ) pressed Syed Husin on how he knew the man was an officer from the Special Branch, the judge told the senior federal counsel: "The witness knew because he had been detained many times (by the police) before."

At one point Kamaludin wanted Syed Husin to clarify the identity of one of the Umno Youth leaders.

Kamaludin: Was that Ruslan Khamis or Ruslan Kassim?

Syed Husin: It was Ruslan Khamis not Ruslan Kassim (both of whom were Umno politicians)

Judge Wan Adnan interjected: Khamis (Thursday) was yesterday, today is Jumaat (Friday). We have got bin (son of) Jumaat, Khamis and Isnin (Monday), do we have bin Rabu (Wednesday)? I've never heard of it...

Kamaludin: There is one Mat Sabu (opposition PAS leader Mohamad Sabu's nickname)

Wan Adnan: That's Sabu, not Rabu...

Next hearing

After Syed Husin had completed his testimony today, the court fixed July 19 and 20 as the next hearing dates.

The plaintiffs are expected to call another five or six witnesses while Kamaludin informed the court that the defendants would call five witnesses.

The counsel representing the plaintiffs have also informed the judge that they plan to submit a crucial videotape evidence on the incident during the next hearing.

Kamaludin was assisted by federal counsel Zanariah Mutalib and Morhaji Selamat while the plaintiffs are represented by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar ( photo ), M Moganambal, Abdul Rashid Ismail and Ang Hean Leng.

The 33 plaintiffs in suit had named the government, then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor and two senior police officers - then Kuala Lumpur chief police officer Ismail Che Rose and then Dang Wangi OCPD Zainal Abidin Ali - as respondents.

Among the high-profile plaintiffs included Malaysian Trade Union Congress president Syed Shahir Syed Mohammad, Syed Husin, PKR vice-president R Sivarasa, Parti Sosialis Malaysia president Dr Nasir Hashim and New Era College principal Dr Kua Kia Soong.

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and chief executive officer Premesh Chandran, then journalists at The Sun, were also among the plaintiffs.

Day 1: Witness: Umno Youth-led mob acted like 'samsengs'

Day 2: Mob called us traitors, says witness

Day 3: Syed Husin: I was assaulted

Sparks fly at Apcet II trial

Day 4: Apcet II: Syed Husin identifies mob leader