The Bar Council today disagreed with the assertion that nude ear squats are justifiable, terming the practice as a breach of decency.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim told the independent commission, formed to probe a controversial video clip, that such squats was not unjustifiable.

Suhaimi is the facilitator for the five-member commission.

"We disagree entirely. The clip showed a breach with strict regards to decency," said Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh during a press conference at the council's office in Kuala Lumpur.

He also rebutted the 'success' of such body searches as claimed by four police officers during the commission's hearings.

"No statistics were produced to the commission as to how many strip searches are carried out throughout the country everyday...Certainly it is a very big number. So a few success cases should not justify this offensive procedure," he said.

He said strip searches and intimate (cavity) searches should only be carried out in exceptional circumstances.

"It should not be imposed on detainees arbitrarily and indefinitely. This is unacceptable and must be changed....the same treatment cannot be carried out on suspects without sufficient evidence. Many of them have never been charged," he added.

Structural change needed

Yeo said there is a need for a structural change to the practice of body searches here. "We should wake up. This has been done for so long and it was wrong. We have to stop it," he added.

He noted that ear squats practiced in Malaysia does not fall into the category of 'strip search'.

He explained that a 'strip search' involves the removal of more than the outer clothing while an 'intimate search' is the physical examination of body orifices other than the mouth.

"We have not heard of holding ears as to discover any object in cavities. We added something else by holding the ears," he said.

He also questioned why the commission had only heard a single medical viewpoint on the usefulness of ear squats to dispel contraband items hidden in the vagina and rectum.

On Wednesday, Dr Zainab Shamsuddin , an obstetrics and gynecology specialist from Hospital Kuala Lumpur told the commission that squatting was an effective way to expel objects hidden in the private parts while ear squats could have the contrary results.

More evidences

Yeo said the commission should have also listened to more evidences in regards to its fourth term of reference which is to investigate the standard operating procedure, approaches and regulations in the handling of body searches.

"The task of the commission is not only to investigate the video-clip but also listen to more evidence in order to investigate the procedure in the past years," he stressed.

Citing the recent case of a transsexual, who had undergone a sex change operation, being forced to strip in front of male police officers, he said evidence of this nature should also be taken into account.

"It is much better if the commission can find out the extent of which such acts have gone," he added.

In order to come out with a comprehensive set of recommendations, he said the commission should also listen to the testimonies of the five Chinese nationals who had also complained of police abuse.

The commission had ruled that it was not necessary for the five women to testify as the victim in the clip has already been identified.

Yeo also suggested that the Independent Police Complaints And Misconduct Commission, as suggested by the Royal Police Commission, be set up to check police abuses.

In a related development, the five-member commission led by former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah rejected Yeo's application to provide recommendations to the commission.

Sixteen witnesses have been called in the inquiry which started on Monday. The commission's report will be revealed by Jan 15.

The other members of the commission are former Bar Council chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari, former MCA deputy president Lim Ah Lek, Wanita Umno Legal Aid Bureau chief Kamilia Ibrahim and Internal Security Ministry deputy secretary-general Hamzah Md Rus, who is the commission's secretary.