An Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee relates what he heard about former Inspector-General of Police Rahim Noor who was alleged to have assaulted a suspected serial rapist after discovering that o­ne of the survivors was a distant relative.

Saari Sungib claimed police interrogators, responding to his query regarding jailed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's black-eye incident while in police custody in 1998, cited two incidents where Rahim had lost his temper and beat the suspects "on the spot".

"...Several investigating officers said Rahim was temperamental by nature," stated Saari in the report, a copy of which has been sent to ISA review board and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

"One of them, who claimed to know of two cases where Rahim (photo) himself had beaten up suspects, said the incident happened after the police chief was informed by the investigating team that the evidence gathered confirmed that the suspect was a serial rapist."

According to the 158-page account, the interrogator said Rahim was "extremely angry" and took it upon himself to assault the suspect.

In March 2000, Rahim was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Anwar following the findings of a specially instituted royal commission.

The disgraced police chief pleaded guilty o­nly after the charge was amended to the lesser offence of "causing hurt" and was fined RM2,000 and sentenced to two months' imprisonment.

He was granted bail pending appeal, and when the sentence was confirmed o­n appeal Rahim served the two-month prison term.

Sport killing

Saari - currently detained in the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping, Perak - penned his observation and conversation that had taken place during his 54-day interrogation prior to the two-year detention without trial.

"The suspect was a small-sized, short Indonesian man whose victims comprised unmarried women staying alone in apartments or in quiet areas.

"All of them were professional women, qualified and holding a good job," the officer was quoted in Saari's account.

"What I heard subsequently was horrifying," said Saari. "But the deputy investigating officer remained nonchalant in relating how, upon identifying the spot where a rape victim was buried, the police told the suspect to run and then shoot him."

To Saari's shocked reaction of "shoot?", the officer's alleged reply was: "Tembaklah lagipun Indon nak buat apa?" ("Yes, shoot moreover, he is an Indonesian what can be done?")

"Stories of police killings such as this is not the first time that I'm hearing it from investigating officers," Saari said in his 60-chapter account of his grilling between April 10 and June 2, 2001.

Over the past few years, there have been mounting criticisms o­n the high number of suspects shot dead by the police. Based o­n the statistics available, the police is believed to have shot dead an average of 1.3 persons a week.

Deadly chase

Saari (photo) claimed the interrogators bombarded him with plenty of 'inside stories' of police's modus operandi and techniques employed in protecting national security, including the existence of an 'unknown' secret service.

The behind-the-scene account gives an insight into police interrogation methods, including bits o­n the deviant Islamic cults, Al-Ma'unah and Al-Arqam, Bentong Kali (an alleged criminal gunned down by police in the early 1990s), Arab terrorists, high-class sex workers, Ecstasy pills, coup d'etat within the police force, and several political and religious personalities and their families.

In his report, Saari has declared that all the material contained in it was true as far as the police interrogation proceedings were concerned.

Saari also noted the interrogators' account of what transpired between the police and the notorious Steyr Gang.

The gang had allegedly stolen four Austrian-designed Steyr rifles from an army base in July 1999 before embarking o­n a robbery spree of nine banks and reportedly killing a security guard.

The following January, police shot dead four of them at a toll plaza. A soldier was reportedly arrested for selling the rifles to the gang.

According to Saari, the interrogators claimed that investigation of the soldier - who was a sentry in an army camp - showed that he had conspired with a friend from outside, and unwittingly sold about seven or eight rifles without knowing their make, which later fell in the hands of the gang.

The chief investigating officer, claimed Saari, told him police found a pattern in the bank robberies, which they finally managed to pin o­n the infamous gang.

Quoting the officer, Saari said nobody expected the gang members to be armed robbers, including a spouse whose husband purportedly conducted the azan (the Muslim call for prayer) and congregated at the mosque in Johor Baru, where all of them hailed from.

"During our monitoring, we were in a Proton and they drove a Mercedes fixed with a turbo engine, racing between JB and Kuala Lumpur and back to JB in four hours to be o­n time for the zohor and asar prayers," the officer was quoted saying.

Following orders

Saari quoted the deputy investigating officer as saying: "kami kontek orang-orang kami ikut depa bila depa berhenti bayar tol kereta orang-orang kami berhenti sebelah tembak mati semua!"

("We contacted our people to tail them. When they stopped to pay the toll, our people stopped their car next to them and shot all of them!")

Saari claimed the officer insisted that police had confirmation o­n the identity of the gang members before issuing the shoot-to-kill orders.

Asked why police did not arrest them instead, the alleged reply was: " gila kamu? nak mati kami? dah confirm orang-orang kami nampak senjata ada sebelah depa dah arahan suruh tembak, kami tembaklah! semua mati o­n the spot arahan kami terima suruh tembak mati semua!"

(" are you crazy? do you want us dead? we had confirmation our people saw the weapons by their side since the orders were to shoot, we shot them! all died o­n the spot the orders we received were to shoot all of them dead!")

Saari also quoted the officer saying that police had recovered all but two Steyr rifles.

On Jan 31, Aliza Jaafar, Saari's wife, submitted the report to Suhakam to ascertain the truth of the allegations as well as to address a violation of his basic right in being forced to put up with police boasting.

Detained under the ISA in April 2001, Saari is held for an alleged attempt to overthrow the government via militant means.

He and five others, who are also detained o­n the same grounds, have denied the charges.