Is there a secret police unit called the Federal Investigation Team (FIT) which has the power to determine who becomes the prime minister?

Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ( photo ) was today urged to confirm the existence of an elite unit in the police force which allegedly has the power to determine the rise and fall of cabinet ministers, including the prime minister.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang ( photo ) asked if Abdullah, who is also deputy prime minister, was aware of the existence such a group.

Malaysiakini has reported that Internal Security Act detainee Saari Sungib, in a 158-page report to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) last Friday, claimed that he was informed by his interrogator o­n the existence and function of the shadowy police unit during the first 60 days of his arrest.

"Saari's revelations, if true, have far-reaching implications for the system of cabinet government and parliamentary democracy in Malaysia," said the opposition leader.

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 sex workers, Ecstasy pills, coup d'etat within the police force, and political and religious personalities.

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 can become prime minister.

According to Saari, this elite team is said to have been established by former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein "to ensure that the country is not colonised by foreign powers and ruled by foreigners" and comprised "100 percent of Malay Muslims because other races and non-Muslims were untrustworthy".

World's second best

He also said that the police interrogator also claimed that the secret outfit is the world's second best after MI5, Britain's security intelligence agency. It is also known as 'the guardian', which not o­nly advises the prime minister but also determines national security policies.

The interrogator, Saari said, had also claimed that Anwar Ibrahim had been unaware of the team's existence during his tenure as deputy prime minister.

"Only the prime minister knows (of its existence) through certain individuals," Saari quoted the police interrogator as saying.

Saari declared that all the material in his report was true as far as the police interrogation proceedings were concerned and wanted Suhakam to ascertain the truth of these claims.

Saari and five other reformasi activists and opposition leaders were detained under the ISA in April 2001 for allegedly planning to topple the government through militant means, a charge they have denied.