Four months after an Indonesian maid denied that she was raped by Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim, police are starting to probe NGO Tenaganita for reproducing a media statement on the rape allegation.

Last week, Ampang district police headquarters faxed a letter to the migrant workers rights group's executive director, Irene Fernandez, requesting to record her statement.

NONE Irene ( right ) agreed to meet the police at the Tenaganita office in Petaling Jaya at 3pm today. However, the police did not show up.

According to the letter signed by senior criminal investigating officer ASP Norfidawati Othman, the police were instructed by the Attorney-General's Chambers to record Irene's statement over a media statement issued by Indonesian migrant workers group Migrant Care.

The letter, which Irene showed to journalists at a press conference at the Tenaganita office today, said Tenaganita reproduced the media statement on Dec 26 last year, after Wikileaks exposed the investigation documents.

It also described the Rais case as an "allegation" ( tohmahan ).

Irene admitted that Tenaganita had reproduced the statement on its official website but denied it was put up on the date mentioned.

The statement by Migrant Care, dated Aug 1, 2007, called for a thorough investigation into the alleged rape.

It said the victim was a maid who had worked for a "Malaysian senior minister" from "the ruling party" for eight years when the rape allegedly took place in 2007.

The maid subsequently released a statement denying the rape allegation.

Rais too has vehemently denied the allegation and has sued a blogger for defamation over a posting about the rape allegation.

Irene questioned the purpose of today's investigation as it was not mentioned in the letter.

Similar letter sent in January

"The letter does not state which law I am being investigated under, or whether as a witness or as the person being investigated.

"Without knowing the purpose of the investigation, it is really difficult for me to address the issue effectively," she said, adding that police had written her a similar letter in January this year, but did not follow up on it until now.

Meanwhile, her lawyer, Latheefa Koya, who was also present at the press conference, urged the police to reveal whether they had investigated the allegation, instead of going after the media statement.

cartoon-o-phobia zunar press conference in malaysiakini latheefa koya "Have the police done the investigation to conclude that it is a 'allegation' as stated in their letter (to Irene)? Have they questioned Rais and Migrant Care?

"If the investigation had been done, they should go after Migrant Care. Why question Irene?" Latheefa ( above ) asked, claiming that she was informed that Migrant Care has not been probed until today despite the fact that the NGO did not retract or deny its statement.

The activist lawyer also stressed that police should not stop their investigation into the rape allegation just because the maid had denied it.

"Because a victim is vulnerable and traumatised, it doesn't mean that you should stop the investigation if the victim keeps quiet or retracts the allegation," she said.

Latheefa tried to contact the police during the press conference to ask about their absence today, but the Ampang police headquarters did not pick up the call, while the Norfidawati's mobile phone could not be reached.