‘I call upon Anwar's lawyers to initiate an injunction restraining the police from conducting any further so-called investigations until a copy of the report is made available.'
On No more waffling, we want the police report NOW
Amir Hamzah Amha: In my short stint as a practising lawyer, I find it incredible that both the government and the police have labelled Anwar as uncooperative and have made headlines announcing him as such.
My stand is clear - Anwar Ibrahim should not give any cooperation to any person based on any accusation on the sole premise that no copy of the police report against him has been given.
Anwar has a right to know his accuser and the subject matter of the accusation. Incidentally, in parliament, Khairy Jamaluddin even seemed to be inferring that he has read a copy of this report. What treachery is this?
The Bar Council in early 2008, in the midst of being investigated for the Human Rights Day incident and the March for Peace in Putrajaya, was 'interviewed' by the police.
When a question was about to be asked, the lawyers for the Bar Council objected and asked for a copy of the 'First Information Report' (FIR) lodged against them.
The investigative officers were shocked and clueless, knowing that there was no report to be tabled and shown to the Bar Council. They left without asking any further questions.
I call upon the lawyers of Anwar to initiate an injunction from the High Court restraining the police from conducting any further so-called investigation against Anwar until a copy of the report is made with an apology.
GKB:
For goodness sake, just give Anwar a copy of the police report which, as Anwar's lawyer pointed out, is a public document. The way the police are conducting this investigation is suspicious and leery.Many people who were uncertain are now convinced more than ever that this is a conspiracy against Anwar.
How can the hospital deny the fact that Anwar was stripped naked and his body examined? Why would Anwar will lie about this?
His detailed account has a ring of truth to it and he even said he refused to be photographed naked.
Asking for a fresh blood sample when he police already have his DNA profile on record is another suspicious act.
The police are unwittingly setting themselves up so that any evidence presented in court will be disbelieved by the public.
If the date and time of the alleged offense match Anwar's movements, the public will believe the police report was amended after the fact. If Saiful can give an accurate description of Anwar's body, the public will believe that the information came from the police.
If matching DNA was found in Saiful's clothes or body, the public will believe that the DNA was planted from the fresh sample given by Anwar.
From the way things are being done, the public may be right. If there is no evidence, just close the case instead trying to fabricate evidence to suit.
Siew Khim: The corrupt, greedy and stupid BN regime will have to find Anwar guilty to keep him out of politics for a long time.
There are billions of ringgit at stake and these greedy, corrupted people cannot let it go. Even Mahathir and his family could be involved.
One way or another, Anwar has to be stopped. If the sodomy case cannot eliminate Anwar as a threat, they will find some other way.
Confused: When the great PM was asked to comment about his deputy's involvement in the Altantuya murder case, he said that he couldn't give his opinion as he has to respect the court and it is wrong for him to interfere with the court proceedings.
However, when it comes to Anwar's case, he is free to give his one sen opinion, including asking Anwar to give his DNA. What a double standard!
I am wondering what happened to the old DNA? I don't think it existed at all, or as usual, they probably misplaced it.
On Why I believe Anwar is guilty
Tanpa Kepala: ‘Unfortunately, it is hard to view this case with fairness because both sides have already come to their judgement without all the facts.'
While this may be true, the authorities have made it very hard for us not to believe that this is nothing but another political conspiracy.
I, personally, cannot understand people who cannot see the clear signs of an non-level playing field. For example, why have Anwar's lawyers been denied access to the police report?
If Saiful was indeed raped by Anwar, why did he not immediately file a report after being sodomised on the first occasion?
Why only lodge the report after being sodomised on eight different occasions? I don't know about you, but the smell of fish comes from only one direction.
Pahlawan: I think the Malaysian government ie, Pak Lah, Najib, Syed Hamid should concentrate on their duties and leave the ex-deputy prime minister to the police to deal with according to the law of the land.
Surely there is nothing special about this poor man.
If he can clear himself from any wrongdoing he shall be the real hero of Malaysia like Hang Jebat. He will rightfully deserve respect and lead the Malaysian nation to prosperity,
Honest Bystander: I have noticed that this writer has often written scathing remarks about Anwar. It smacks off a personal vendetta. He has made remarks on ‘Malaysia Today' as well, all personal.
I am an observer and am not an ardent supporter of Anwar (though at this point in time, I tend to be partial towards him as I believe he is but a victim of the BN government's devious machinations to stay in power) but the comments made by this writer leave much to be desired.
I think he or she should reflect on whether he would rather have Malaysia's coffers being robbed by the current bunch of poorly-qualified, incompetent ministers who will reduce the country's economy to the likes of Myanmar and Zimbabwe, or to have a change of government to save the livelihood of the rakyat. Oh I forgot, that is if he is Malaysian.
Sang Kancil: The lawyer merely read the letter which he himself wrote, but said was written by Saiful's father, Azlan Lazim. Is he the person who signed the letter?
When the reporters asked him where the father was, he said the father had some other things to do and could not attend the press conference.
This is really some stuff to laugh at. What other important things could be more important than this to Saiful's father?
Is Saiful really a student leader? I doubt it. He is a university dropout who failed his exams and the university found him unfit for university. It is a mistake to call him a student leader.
I was VP of the Dental Society of UM in 1989, and am currently president of one a national body, but I have not been given the chance to see DPM.
How can Saiful, a failed student, get a chance to see DPM for a scholarship?
Is a failed student qualified to get a scholarship under the Umno-led government? Looks very fishy to me. Looking at this from all angles, the press conference didn't work at all.
On 'DNA profiling is permanent'
Firefly: I refer to the numerous comments asking why Anwar's previous DNA profile cannot be used and why a new sample is needed. I have no personal knowledge of what is going on.
However the following points should be borne in mind. Firstly it really depends on the method they used in 1998. Methods change and the results obtained depend on the part of the DNA that is being analysed to obtain a profile.
The FBI uses a method that identifies short tandem repeats or STRs, the length of which varies in different people. I believe in Malaysia we use the same method.
Results that are being used now may not necessarily be comparable to the results obtained at that time. Its not like a blood group. Once its B its always B.
In DNA profiling certain loci are identified and are used as targets. There is no fixed 'type'. It depends on your loci.
Secondly, the DNA extracted from blood is limited by the amount of blood that was taken. Like everything else, it does tend to get used up as tests are repeated and reconfirmed. Its possible that there is not much of the original DNA left.
Thirdly for those who have watched Discovery and CSI etc, in those cases identification is sometimes done using mitochondrial DNA.
Mitochondrial DNA is quite hardy and if its skeletal remains then nuclear DNA may have deteriorated but mt DNA might still be usable. There are different types of DNA.
Lastly let us consider this scenario. In a remote village, a small child is sexually assaulted and killed. The police isolate DNA from semen. They now require all men within a 50 km radius to give a blood sample to try to help identify the assailant.
Would we all be jumping up saying its unfair for the police to ask for our blood because you are innocent until proven guilty?
The purpose of the DNA is to find the guilty party. How should the police proceed in this case?
Dr SKT: The DNA profile of a person will be the same as long as the same polymerase and primers are used under the same conditions.
If the polymerase and primers used presently differ from the ones used 10 years ago, then the analyst could purchase them from supplier that provides customised primers to profile the sample from Saiful.
In my experience as a researcher in biotechnology, I could purchase many made-to-specification primers and substrates. The DNA profile from Saiful's sample can thus be compared to the existing DNA profile of Anwar.
Alternatively, special radio-labelled primers could be used for profiling a new DNA sample from Anwar by an independent expert. Sample taking and profiling should be done by this independent expert only.
The same primers minus the radio-label are then used to profile the sample from Saiful by our local analyst under the same conditions.
This will minimise any attempt to corrupt the sample, which can easily be done. Then the two profiles are compared. Both sets of primers are to be from the same supplier.
Profiling the anal sample can indeed be a challenge, considering the various microbes cohabiting our lower guts. Hence, the results can be easily misinterpreted and therefore challenged.
In addition to these methods, real time analysis is available these days.
JKS: There is a critical difference between DNA record and blood tissue. (Blood is technically a ‘tissue' even though it is commonly called a ‘body fluid'.)
Blood tissue can be planted as evidence because blood is a cocktail of various types of blood cells (with complete cell structures), plasma (the liquid), and other bodily chemicals ranging from hormones to glucose.
In contrast, a DNA record cannot be planted as evidence because once processed, they become only tiny, perishable strands of protein and electronic images.
Perhaps this difference explains the police insistence on obtaining a blood sample (even worse, semen sample).
The public will only become convinced that the demand for a fresh DNA sample is really an attempt to get at a live blood tissue sample, to be planted as evidence to incriminate Anwar.
There is also the small possibility that frozen old blood sample from 1998 has finally been found, thawed, and planted as new evidence. Nothing can be trusted until our judiciary and law enforcement systems are reformed.
BH Salleh: There are a lot of comments being made about Anwar's DNA being made available and potentially being misused by the authorities.
What tends to be overlooked is that not many, me included perhaps, understand the technicalities of DNA.
Nevertheless, what the police must surely be interested in is not Anwar's DNA profile, since that is already available from ten years ago, but samples from Anwar's body preferably semen or anatomical sheddings, to be manipulated onto Saiful's clothing, perhaps.
So please, don't speculate about the police having to plant anything ‘in' Saiful. If it is to be done, it will have to be onto his clothes.
So watch out for that. As for sheddings, I advise Anwar not to go to any outside barbers for his haircut.
Derek Law: The PDRM should clarify why they need fresh DNA samples from Anwar Ibrahim. I am not a medical doctor or scientist, but I am very certain that a person's DNA profile cannot change.
That means that if the PDRM find some human hair, semen, etc., at a crime scene, the PDRM will have to first compare the DNA with that found with their DNA database.
God forbid that a person can change his DNA profile - all rapists and murderers will be able to escape justice.
In this respect, the PDRM have Anwar Ibrahim's medical records, which includes his DNA profile.
All the PDRM needs is to compare any foreign DNA found inside of Saiful and compare it with Anwar Ibrahim's DNA profile.
This will immediately determine whether Mohd Saiful's claims are true or false.
As a country governed by the principles of the rule of law, it is of upmost importance that the public must have faith in the PDRM and the PDRM must not only be neutral, but must be seen to be neutral as executives.
D Chin: I am no scientist or medical doctor, but our PM saying Anwar's ten-year-old DNA sample is ‘too old' seems like utter nonsense to me.
If scientists can take DNA samples from Napoleon Bonaparte or the Russian royal family assassinated almost 100 years ago, not to mention from long-dead stone age cavemen, how is it possible that Anwar's DNA sample is too old?
Why not seek the opinions of the Malaysian Medical Association or our own science ministry and put this matter to bed once and for all?
The Malaysian public is really sick and tired of this sideshow. The PM should stop being so ‘nice' and indecisive. He sways like bamboo in the wind.
For pity's sake take out the big stick and whack all your subordinates into line. The PM is making Malaysia into a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.
Anthony Lee: Why the need for DNA if DSAI has an alibi?
I suggest that DSAI state where and who he was with on the days of the alleged sodomy so that it is public information and the police cannot amend the police report.
Why the fuss about DNA?
