The journey in life is never a straight line (PART 20)

Haji Hamid and I discussed this matter and it was agreed that if the police do arrest and charge Dr Wan Azizah then I would have to admit that I had, in fact, smuggled Anwar’s blood, urine, hair and fingernail samples into Australia. Then the Melbourne pathologist office can make their test results official. This would save Dr Wan Azizah from the charge of making a false police report but I would instead face the risk of being charged for smuggling.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Anwar's trial is halted by arsenic claim

(The Independent, UK, 11 September 1999) - Malaysia politician Anwar Ibrahim is being poisoned with arsenic by the authorities while in prison, his lawyer said yesterday at the trial of the former deputy prime minister on sodomy charges.

Karpal Singh said secret tests on Anwar's urine proved that the politician, who is already serving six years for corruption, has an alarming level of arsenic in his body. "I suspect some people in high places, in all likelihood, are responsible for his condition," Mr Singh said. "The family and Anwar Ibrahim are alarmed. He is in jeopardy of his life."

The trial was adjourned by Judge Ariffin Jaka, who ordered that Anwar, 52, be taken to hospital for tests. Later, Mr Singh showed a report said to be from an Australian pathology lab, indicating the urine sample tested had 77 times more arsenic than normal human urine.

Anwar's relatives somehow obtained a urine sample and smuggled it out last month using a false name, Mr Singh said. The lab report carried the name Subramaniam and an age of 59.

Before the hearing was adjourned indefinitely, prosecutors said there was no proof that Anwar was being poisoned in prison. Arsenic could have entered his body through food given to him by family and friends in court, the Attorney General, Mohtar Abdullah, said

Anwar flew into a rage at that, pounding the wooden railing of the dock and stamping his feet. "Fed by my wife! I was poisoned by Azizah!" he shrieked ironically, referring to his wife, who heads an opposition party that has vowed to end the government's 18-year rule.

Anwar is accused of sodomising his former family driver. He says the sex and corruption charges are part of a political conspiracy to end his challenge to the Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. He faces up to 20 more years in prison if convicted of sodomy.

Anwar was arrested on 20 September last year, 18 days after the Prime Minister fired him. He was beaten on the night of his arrest by the police chief of Malaysia.

When the judge asked Anwar how he felt, he said: "I am generally all right, I am not feeling any pain, but certainly I am not my usual self." Anwar said he had lost weight and hair, symptoms he connected to arsenic poisoning. His wife later said he lost 9kg (19lb) this year.

"This is attempted murder," said Azizah. "I'm very alarmed, very frightened, to learn that his life is in danger."

The Deputy Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said that he had ordered an immediate investigation.

Anwar Ibrahim (R) smiles as he arrives at hospital under guard in Kuala Lumpur September 10. Anwar was taken to the hospital on Friday after his lawyer Karpal Singh said a pathologist in Australia had found arsenic in Anwar's urine.

Anwar Ibrahim, second from left, is welcomed by staff of National University Hospital on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur as he arrives for his medical test Friday, Sept. 10, 1999.

Anwar Ibrahim, center, waves to his supporters as he was discharged from National University Hospital where he was admitted to be checked for possible arsenic poisoning, Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 in Kuala Lumpur.

*********************************************

I can’t quite remember the exact day in August 1999 it was, but I know it was a Friday and before the 10th of September 1999, the day the arsenic poisoning of Anwar Ibrahim issue exploded.

I remember it was a Friday because I had just returned from my Friday prayers when I received a phone call from Anwar’s MCKK classmate, Haji Hamid Rashid, who was also my ‘boss’.

I was then working in the R&D division of Parti Keadilan Nasional (now called Parti Keadilan Rakyat or PKR), basically a psychological-warfare (psywar) unit to handle the Internet media war long before the advent of Blogs or new portals such as Malaysiakini.

At that time there were only 280,000 Internet subscribers in Malaysia compared to 15 million or so today. Nevertheless, we saw the importance of the Internet long before Umno realised it in 2008 and we decided to get in from the ground floor because he who is first ‘controls the market’, so to speak.

Haji Hamid’s phone call was rather strange. Normally he would drop in to the PKR office at Phileo Damansara -- a building owned by Anwar crony, Datuk Ravi Dharan, one-time Samy Vellu crony who made millions as a Barisan Nasional stooge -- and we would hold our discussions in a special ‘bug-proof’ room.

Haji Hamid never considered the phone a safe medium of discussion as the powers-that-be can listen in on whatever we discuss. Hence that phone call was most unusual. And the discussion was even stranger.

“No names!” said Haji Hamid. “Meet me now at the PJ Hilton car park. No further explanation.”

I jumped onto my motorcycle, a Yamaha Virago, and rushed to the PJ Hilton. I arrived there in less than 15 minutes, parked my bike, and hung around. There was no sign of Haji Hamid so I thought that maybe I was early.

After waiting for about 10 minutes or so my phone rang and Haji Hamid said, “Turn and face the highway.” I was facing the PJ Hilton, expecting Haji Hamid to come from there. I turned to face the highway as instructed and I saw someone hiding behind one of the pillars of the flyover. He signalled to me to come over.

I walked over and as I got closer I could see that it was Haji Hamid. Apparently he had arrived before me but he wanted to monitor me before showing himself lest I was followed.

Haji Hamid then explained that Anwar had been poisoned with arsenic. They had secretly taken some of Anwar’s blood, urine, hair and fingernail samples and had sent them to the Melbourne for testing under the name of Subramaniam and the tests proved that Anwar had a high level of arsenic in his system.

They then tried to send a second set of samples, this time in Anwar’s name, but the Malaysian police had found out and had intercepted and confiscated them before they could leave the country.

Now Anwar was under close monitoring so no one could get to him for another set of samples. However, what the police did not know is there was a third set of samples. But these cannot be sent through the normal channels because the police were monitoring all the courier companies. Hence they needed to be smuggled out.

Haji Hamid explained that none of Anwar’s family dared smuggle the samples out because the minute they try to leave the country they will be stopped and subjected to a 100% check. Haji Hamid wanted me to help find someone who can act as a smuggler.

I told Haji Hamid it would be too risky to trust someone else to do this job and that I had better do it myself.

We walked in to the PJ Hilton and asked the concierge to check flights to Melbourne, Australia. The earliest available flight was Monday. Haji Hamid told the concierge to make the flight booking, who asked me the name of the passenger. Haji Hamid pointed to me and the concierge replied, “Raja Petra, right?”

Haji Hamid went pale. Haji Hamid told the concierge to hold on and he pulled me aside. “He knows who you are,” Haji Hamid said. “It’s too dangerous. We need to abort.”

I assured Haji Hamid that he had nothing to worry about. Clearly the concierge was one of us since he knows who I am. Reluctantly Haji Hamid agreed to proceed but he cautioned me that if I got caught I was on my own. I assured Haji Hamid that he would not get dragged into this if I got caught.

The flight booking for Monday was done and we went back to the car park. Haji Hamid then handed me a polystyrene box with a sealed container submerged in dry ice inside it. “Put this in the fridge until your flight on Monday night,” he told me. “But do not break the seal.”

I went home and emptied the fridge in my bedroom and placed the sealed box inside it. “What the hell are you doing?” my wife Marina asked. I explained to Marina what was going on. “You are storing Anwar’s piss in my fridge?” she asked.

“Well, look at it this way,” I replied, “one day when Anwar becomes Prime Minister and when he complains that I piss him off we can remind him that when he was in prison we were the trustee to his piss. Hence we have every right to piss him off.”

On Monday night Marina drove me to the airport and I tried to look as cool as I could when I checked in. “Any luggage?” they asked me. “Only this box, which I will hand carry,” I replied.

I walked through the security check and immigration clearance. They X-rayed the box and allowed it through. There was also no ‘red flag’ on my passport. I breathed a long sigh of relief as I walked onto the plane and sat down. My last two days were filled with visions of getting stopped or arrested but it was plain sailing with no hiccups.

I arrived at Melbourne airport and phoned the number that Haji Hamid had given me. The man at the other end asked me my name and said he would call me back in a few minutes. He then called up Haji Hamid to verify my identity and then called me back with instructions on where I was supposed to go.

I jumped into a taxi and headed for the place. The person I had spoken to earlier, one of Anwar’s Malaysian lawyers, was waiting outside the gate. He then escorted me in and told me he is not allowed to touch the box I was carrying.

We went to the pathologist’s office where a local Australian lawyer was waiting. They asked me to place the box on the table and then took photographs of the box from all angles. The Australian lawyer then inspected the seal and confirmed that it had not been broken or tampered with.

In the presence of both the Malaysian and Australian lawyers, they broke the seal and removed the contents from the box. I waited while they did a test on the samples and confirmed that there was indeed a high level of arsenic.

Nevertheless, the test would have to be ‘off the record’. This was because not only were the samples smuggled out of Malaysia but they were also smuggled into Australia, which was a crime. The only way they could make the test official would be if I were to declare that I had smuggled them into Australia. But that would mean I would also be admitting that I had committed a crime and would have to face arrest.

The rest of the story is in The Independent news report of 11th September 1999 (above).

When this issue exploded on 10th September 1999, the Malaysian police interrogated Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who had made a police report on the matter, and threatened to arrest and charge her for the crime of making a false police report.

Haji Hamid and I discussed this matter and it was agreed that if the police do arrest and charge Dr Wan Azizah then I would have to admit that I had, in fact, smuggled Anwar’s blood, urine, hair and fingernail samples into Australia. Then the Melbourne pathologist office can make their test results official. This would save Dr Wan Azizah from the charge of making a false police report but I would instead face the risk of being charged for smuggling.  

Fortunately the Malaysian police did not carry through with their threat of arresting and charging Dr Wan Azizah for the crime of making a false police report and I was spared the agony of having to face a charge of smuggling. I hear that the Australian government does not take too kindly to those caught smuggling human tissue samples into Australia.

TO BE CONTINUED