Taking into account surrounding circumstances and factors, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today police chose ‘the best option’ available to them when they arrested PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.

Besides concern that Anwar would not appear at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters by 2pm as stipulated, he said police also felt that it would have been more difficult to ‘secure’ him had they waited for him to enter his house.

syed hamid albar parliament pc 150708 "I think they’ve seen (what happened) before. They wanted to avoid what happened before and they took what they considered was the best option," he told a press conference at Parliament.

Many quarters have criticised the police for arresting Anwar an hour before his 2pm deadline to meet the police. Also questioned was the manner in which the opposition stalwart was apprehended by a police team, which included personnel donning balaclava.

Syed Hamid ( above ) said among the factors that led the police to their course of action was the incident on Saturday when they sought to serve Anwar with a notice under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code, demanding his presence at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters

On that day, police officers were not allowed to enter the house by his family members who declined to receive the notice on his behalf.

The minister said this, coupled with the fact that Anwar had chosen to head towards his house after giving his statement yesterday to the Anti-Corruption Agency instead of proceeding straight to the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters, led to the decision to ‘secure’ him before he reached his house.

anwar arrest sequence 170708 Syed Albar said if the police had waited any longer and had Anwar had entered his Segambut home, the possibility of an untoward incident occurring was greater considering the number of people present in the house.

‘Everything went well’

"If we forced ourselves (in), there would have been an incident and we would have been blamed. How do you avoid being involved in a scuffle or unruly behaviour?" he asked.

"If you were in the police’ position, you have to make the choice. A lot of choices are situational," he added.

"You can argue that it is not right [...] that they had made the wrong (choice), that they acted in bad faith. But all that is after the event."

Syed Hamid also said the arrest ( left ) and Anwar’s conduct during the subsequent interview session at the police headquarters went ‘very well’ adding that people should not question the techniques employed by the police.

"We should not make an issue of something that went very well. The important thing is that Anwar was not harmed," he said.

To the question why Anwar was accorded ‘special treatment’ given that suspects of sexual crimes are not usually released within 24 hours of their arrest, Syed Hamid said the police considered his release on police bail today the most optimal choice.

"They (the police) want to make sure that whatever they do is correctly done. Even releasing Anwar on police bail was a decision that was based on law. The law allows them to do that, and they have done that."

Syed Hamid said that although the government was concerned in that Anwar’s rights were not violated in any way, it also had to make sure that the rights of the complainant, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, to a thorough investigation were respected.

"We all have forgotten that there is a police report by a young person. You never discuss what happened to that young person.

"As far as I am concerned, justice must be upheld. The law must be upheld," he said.