Suara Keadilan : The Making of a Sodomy Conspiracy and Najib’s role

Saiful explained that he had gone there to apply for a scholarship but this is a very awkward explanation. As a college dropout, Saiful was not in the market for a scholarship and in any case, the DPM  office is the wrong department to go. By Kenny Gan, Suara Keadilan It was Mark Twain who said, Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said.. A truthful account of events does not need any scheming, planning or coordinating to make the details logical and consistent. It does not care for unexpected events, unknown circumstances and unexpected witnesses getting in the way because they will all automatically validate each other. Truth has a beauty and simplicity which does not require anybody to make improbable assumptions, illogical explanations and unlikely postulations of human behaviour to fit the narrative. Conspirators can try to cover up the truth with lies, deceit and fabrications but the truth will eventually come out like water dribbling out of a leaky container. Lies may need more lies to cover up the holes to make the story appear logical and consistent but more lies may punch more holes in the framework until the whole thing collapses and the deception is exposed. The Making of a Sodomy Accuser Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a young college dropout volunteered to work in Anwar  office just before the 2008 general election at a time when PKR was very short-handed. It was later discovered from his online postings that he is strongly pro-Umno. He claimed to have been sodomized by Anwar against his will a total of eight (8) times before he resigned and made a police report.  He sent a friendly quit e-mail to Anwar which can he read here. Saiful visited the office of the Deputy Prime Minister a few months before the alleged incident and took a photograph with Najib's aide which is widely circulated online. Saiful explained that he had gone there to apply for a scholarship but this is a very awkward explanation. As a college dropout, Saiful was not in the market for a scholarship and in any case, the DPM  office is the wrong department to go. Even more shocking was the revelation that he has met Najib Razak who was the DPM then at Najib  official residence in Putrajaya a few days before he made his police report. Najib at first denied that he had met Saiful but later conceded that Saiful had come to him for career guidance. But Najib later retracted the career guidance part after much ridicule and said that he had met Saiful at his residence one night when a traumatized and sodomized Saiful came to ask for his advice. Najib said he listened to Saiful  story and told him it  up to him whether he wanted to lodge a police report or not. More exposure came from Raja Petra Kamaruddin who revealed that Saiful met a police officer, Senior Assistant Commissioner Mohd Rodwan in room 619 of the Concorde Hotel in Kuala Lumpur at 2.30pm on 25 June 2008. Prior to this secret meeting, Rodwan and Saiful spoke on the phone at least eight times. What are we to make of all this? Firstly, why would a rabidly pro-Umno sympathizer seek employment with Umno  political enemy? Why did he say he visited the DPM  office for scholarship when that office does not deal in scholarships? Even more incredulous, how easy is it for a nobody to drop in at the DPM  residence at night to see the DPM and why did Najib deny meeting Saiful initially only to admit it later and gave unwieldy explanations? And what was all that discussion with a police officer about? We know that Saiful is probably not gay as he has a girlfriend or fianc who has unfortunately been dragged into this sordid affair. So being forcibly sodomized must have been a traumatic and disgusting affair, if indeed a frail, elderly man like Anwar is able to force himself on a strapping youth physically much bigger and stronger than him. But Saiful wants us to believe not just the story that he was forcibly sodomized but also the fact that he allowed it to happen eight (8) times before he made a police report. If we postulate that threats had been used on him, what dire consequences can an opposition leader threaten him with and why didn  he promptly call the police who would have come running to his aid with a battalion of high ranking officers? Nobody who has been forcibly sodomized and traumatized would send a friendly quit e-mail to his tormentor. Small details like this are important as they can trip up a conspiracy but in this case we do not even need small details as the big events are glaring enough to show what a bumbling and transparent conspiracy it is. Otherwise, one would have explain them by completely discarding what is usually accepted of normal human behaviour and responses and reframing them to the point of lunacy. When an event really happens, details automatically corroborate the event. When there  nothing to hide, explanations do not create more questions. The Behaviour of a Sodomy Accuser Before making his police report Saiful make a detour to see Dr. Mohamed Osman at the Hospital Pusrawi , KL to complain that he had been sodomized by a  very important person whom he did not name. Dr. Osman examined him and filed a medical report. As the alleged victim wanted to make a police report, Dr. Osman advised him to go to a government hospital for a checkup as the police will only accept a report from a government hospital. On the same day Saiful made a police report. It was learned that he also examined by Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), a government hospital either before or after making his report. After the news broke, our alleged victim of male rape appeared in public smiling and waving confidently to the press, hardly looking like the typical rape victim who has been forcibly sodomized and traumatized. He also challenged Anwar to swear his innocence on the Quran. This is not the typical behaviour of a rape victim who would normally be depressed and embarrassed and keep a low profile instead of issuing public challenges. A male victim of rape should be even more humiliated than a female victim as it is an attack and insult on his manhood but Saiful seemed to revel in his publicity and new found fame. During the Permatang Pauh by-election in August 2008 where Anwar was campaigning to be elected to Parliament, Saiful went to a mosque and swore on the Quran that he had been sodomized against his will in a lavish publicity stunt splashed in the mainstream press and filmed on national TV. The swearing was prominently used by Umno to discredit Anwar in the Permatang Pauh by-election, however it failed to prevent Anwar from making a comeback as an MP with an even bigger majority than his wife who resigned to make way for him. Apparently there is much more to this than a simple case of a rape victim seeking justice. He must either be the proudest and most publicity hungry rape victim in the world, male or female or a hapless pawn exploited by powerful people for political ends. Swearing one's innocence in the name of God has no meaning. A person heinous enough to participate in a vile conspiracy has certainly no fear of God. Anwar refused to swear his innocence as he maintained it is against Islamic teachings and he would not abuse religion for political purpose. Investigation and Charge The way the police swung into action must make an outsider think that sodomy is the biggest and most heinous crime in the country that justifies the use of unlimited manpower and resources to solve. The apartment where the alleged crime took place was thoroughly checked with a fine tooth comb by the police forensic unit. Dozens of witnesses were interviewed.. Anwar was seized by a team of 20 balaclava clad commandos on his way to the police headquarters to give his statement in a dramatic scene as if he was Osama bin Laden. It is normal procedure for a suspect to be given a copy of the police report made against him before taking his cautioned statement. This is to prevent him from unwittingly incriminating himself. However Anwar was denied this privilege. Anwar was sent to a government hospital for a thorough checkup including the indignity of being stripped naked to have his body parts measured. He refused to give a blood sample fearing that his DNA may be planted as what happened in 1998. He was detained overnight in a police cell although it was not necessary as he was only asked a few perfunctory questions the next morning before being released. However a forensic team examined his cell after his release. Then came a tussle to get Anwar to submit a blood sample which Anwar steadfastly refused. The ruling party  politicians got into the act condemning Anwar for not cooperating. A new law called the DNA Bill was hastily drafted to make it compulsory for suspects to give bodily samples to police for DNA testing. It also included a draconian provision that the court must consider DNA evidence provided by the police conclusive and unquestionable. Actually the police have no right to demand a blood sample from Anwar without proper safeguards. Such safeguards include giving the suspect a sample of DNA collected at the crime scene for independent testing or the possible abuse of his sample for planting his DNA cannot be discounted. When he was charged in court, it was a shock. Despite the alleged victim insisting all along that he was forcibly sodomized, Anwar was charged for consensual sodomy under Section 377B of the Penal Code when the proper charge should have been forced sodomy under Section 377C The date, time and place of the offense were stated as June 26, 2008 between 3.01pm and 4.30pm at Desa Damansara Condominium, KL. It is easy to understand why Anwar was charged for consensual rather than forced sodomy. It would be pretty difficult to prove how a 61 year old man with a bad back can forcibly sodomize a youth much bigger and stronger than him. But the accuser insisted it was against his will and had even sworn on the Quran! Such a shameless discrepancy would never have happened if the charge was based on a real event. In any event, a charge of consensual sodomy is farcical considering that homosexuality between consenting partners is not actively prosecuted in Malaysia although the archaic law exists in the books. There must be hundreds of cases occurring everyday under the noses of the police but only those involving Anwar have ever been prosecuted. The fact that Anwar was not given a copy of the original police report before his statement to the police is prejudicial to him. Bearing in mind that his statement contained detailed information on his whereabouts, it is not a great leap of imagination to suppose that the charge could have been based on information garnered from his statement rather than the police report which may be doctored to fit. As of this writing, Anwar has not been given all relevant documents including CCTV recordings, witness testimonies and medical reports pertaining to his case to prepare his defence as required by law. He is appealing to the High Court to obtain them. The Unraveling of a Sodomy Conspiracy Notwithstanding all the irregularities, discrepancies, inconsistencies, illogicalities, unfair treatment and leaps of faith in human behaviour, there are two events which blew the case wide open. One was the leakage of the medical report of the medical examination done on Saiful by Dr. Osman of Hospital Pusrawi  in which he clearly ruled out sodomy due to the absence of any signs of forced penetration. The good doctor has also publicly stood by his findings and filed a statutory declaration to that effect. Dr Osman is a Burmese expatriate doctor with more than 30 years experience in the medical field and has encountered many sodomy cases. He has no interest in Malaysia's domestic politics and he did not even know that Anwar was involved when he examined Saiful. As such, he has no reason to lie. The other event is the revelation by Anwar's lawyers that a medical report by Hospital KL, a government hospital which did the second examination on Saiful also found no evidence of sodomy and this was endorsed by three specialists! What will the conspirators do now that their clumsy, bumbling, blundering and awkward conspiracy has been blown apart? Will they drop the charges? Despite the overpowering stench of conspiracy, most Malaysians believe that Anwar will be tried and convicted. It is a sad reflection of their loss of faith in the government and the judiciary. If the conclusion of this sordid conspiracy is what many believe will be, it will only convince Malaysians that the people who govern or judge them are morally unfit to do either.