A document containing explicit details of the interrogation proceedings undergone by an Internal Security Act detainee claims the police had boasted about having their powers to determine who becomes Malaysia's prime minister and cabinet ministers.

In a 158-page personal account of the grillings he went through during the 60-day detention period between April 10 and June 2, 2001, Saari Sungib claims he was informed by his interrogator o­n the existence and function of a shadowy unit called the Federal Investigation Team (FIT).

He claimed the team's function was, among others, to determine the rise and fall of cabinet ministers. He implied that it also had a hand in the downfall of former cabinet minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob who quit politics in May 2001.

Saari's detailed account - which provides a tantalising insight into police interrogation methods - were systematically sorted out by topic into 60 chapters, including 'inside' information o­n Al-Maunah, Al-Arqam, serial rape cases, Bentong Kali (a notorious criminal gunned down in the early 1990s), Arab terrorists, high-class hookers, Ecstasy pills, coup d'etat within the police force, and political and religious personalities.

His wife, Aliza Jaafar ( photo , far right ), yesterday submitted the document to Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) complaints and inquiry working group chairperson Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan ( photo, left ) at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

She was accompanied by Zumrah Husni, the wife of another ISA detainee, Dr Badrulamin Bahron.

Remove PM

Saari claimed the police told him that the powerful FIT could decide o­n "who gets to be minister and who falls flat o­n the face", as well as who was eligible to become the prime minister.

"Kalau ada PM yang tidak betul, kami cantas... bukan susah nak buat...," Saari quoted his interrogator as saying.

"Negara ini tak ada PM boleh jadi diktator. Kalau jadi diktator kami cantas," read excerpts from the document which Saari finished compiling o­n Dec 31 based o­n the interrogation sessions he went through at the Kamunting detention centre in Taiping, Perak.

["If the PM goes wrong, we will remove him... it is not difficult... This country cannot have a PM who is a dictator. If there is, we will remove..."]

Meanwhile, in a letter to Suhakam dated Jan 9 read out by Aliza last morning, Saari accused the police of violating his human rights and that of his family by forcing him to listen to the "police force's remarkable achievements in maintaining public order and national security".

"Is it fair to detain me, away from my wife and children, and strip me of my freedom just so that certain quarters who want to win me over can direct the investigating officers to elaborate their greatness while at the same time protect the ruling Barisan Nasional government?" he said.

Saari wanted the human rights watchdog to scrutinise the cases 'exposed' by the interrogators as documented by him because he claimed that it also violated the rights of the relevant parties mentioned by the police.

Umno links

"My husband also questioned the motive of putting him and (Keadilan Youth leader) Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor ( photo ) in the same detention block during the 60-day period because he says in the letter that Mohd Ezam had told him that the investigating officers were keen to know about the latter's links with Umno," said Aliza.

According to the letter, the investigating officers were also keen to know the detainees' links with Umno and who among Umno division leaders were still in support of jailed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim ( photo ).

It also mentioned the police's double standards in conducting interrogations, keeping to the schedule while at the police remand centre but not when he was moved to the police training centre in Kuala Lumpur.

"I have written down my experience and submitted it as my representation and revision to the ISA review board," read Saari's letter, adding that the material will also be published in a book.

He also claimed that his interrogators had gone o­n babbling about how police handled major crimes, national security issues, and tried to "brainwash him into supporting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, BN and to join Umno, and abused him with obscene, despicable and incessant chatter as well as uttering slanderous remarks against Anwar".

He also declared that all the material in his report was true as far as the police interrogation proceedings were concerned.

Truth or lie?

Anti-ISA Movement working committee chairperson Zaid Kamaruddin, who was also present at the Suhakam office, highlighted several other topics in Saari's report.

"We feel the police had violated the assurance given to Suhakam in 2001 that interrogations will be conducted as scheduled between 9am and 5pm, as Saari's account indicates otherwise," he said.

Citing the chapter o­n the Steyr Gang, Zaid said the investigating officer related to Saari how they shot dead the gang members, who were allegedly responsible for a spate of robberies, when they had stopped to pay toll.

The activist said this indicated that the police had no intention of apprehending them despite having positive identification.

Zaid said another chapter told of the police's phone-tapping methods used to record the conversations of "various individuals particularly Datuk, Datin, Tan Sri and their wives as well as well-known personalities".

"Saari's account is very worrying. Are the officers' statements true or mere lies? If true, it shows that our police force is interfering in the affairs of the country's politics and parties without regard of the laws."

"Does (that mean) Malaysia has a rogue police force?" he posed, adding that the police have no right to utter such things if at all the statements were untrue.

Saari also wanted Suhakam to investigate into the truth of the allegations contained in his report as well as a violation of his basic rights for having to put up with the police's incessant chatter and boasting.

Saari and five other reformasi activists and opposition leaders were detained under the ISA in April 2000 for allegedly planning to topple the government through militant means, a charge they have denied.

One of them, Mohd Ezam, is also serving a two-year jail sentence in Kajang Prison for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

The others, Keadilan party leaders Tian Chua, Lokman Noor Adam, Badrulamin and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais, are still in Kamunting despite a Federal Court ruling that the arrest and 60-day detention period was unlawful.