PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily in a series of tweets yesterday reported that the iconic 1998 photograph of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, with a black eye, raising his hand was “edited”.
Calling it an “exclusive exposé”, Harakah Daily cited a retired media videographer claiming he took the photograph of Anwar, with a black eye, raising his arm, and that the photograph now widely circulating was doctored.
In a video published by Harakah Daily, the videographer, who only wants to be known as Hanafiah, said he shot the scene of Anwar arriving at the courthouse on video, using a beta video camera.
However, the former Channel News Asia videographer, who is now the Tangga Batu Bersatu information chief, told Malaysiakini he cannot be sure if the still photograph was edited.
He, nevertheless, recalled Anwar was handcuffed when he arrived at the Petaling Jaya Court on Sept 30, 1998.
Malaysiakini’s checks, however, found that the iconic photograph was taken by Ed Wray for news agency Associated Press (AP) - a fact Hanafiah confirmed with Malaysiakini.
Photojournalists on duty that day also confirmed to Malaysiakini that Anwar did raise his hand for about two seconds, and only the AP managed to capture it.
Shooting on film camera
AP photojournalist Vincent Thian said he was the one who scanned Wray’s negatives from the day and sent them through to AP’s Bangkok office.
He said all negatives were couriered to the Bangkok office immediately for fear of possible government raids.
“We were all shooting on film cameras, shooting at five frames per second. I also got the same shot but it was a wider version, so we decided to send Ed’s photo which was tighter.”
Most digital cameras today can shoot around 12 frames per second.
“We were standing on the roadside outside of the PJ Court and the photo was taken when Anwar was coming out. It was a split second before he entered the police car,” Thian told Malaysiakini.
He said the photo was so iconic that it was used throughout the Reformasi era, and Anwar wrote a letter from prison to the AP office in Bangkok to thank the news agency.
Veteran photojournalist Zainal Abdul Halim, who missed the shot, said he saw Anwar’s hand go up.
“But in photojournalism, if you saw the picture then you missed the picture. By the time you release the shutter, you would have missed the shot,” he said.
Police blocking view
Zainal said on the day, photojournalists were shooting using film cameras and long lenses from about 10m away, across the street from the court entrance.
To make matters more challenging, about 20 police officers lined up in a row with their backs to the media to block the photographers’ view of Anwar’s arrival and exit.
“So we had to try to get a photo of Anwar’s face, in between the police officers’ heads. Some of us did get the photo of his hand going up, but not his face, or we couldn’t see his black eye. Only AP got all three - his face, the black eye, and his hand raised,” Zainal explained.
He added that shooting on film cameras meant photographers would not know the outcome until they scanned the negatives.
“So we would just start shooting in the general direction and hope for the best. Sometimes, we get lucky.
“There was no way the photo was edited because at the time we didn’t have the time or equipment to edit the photo. We didn’t even have time to develop them.”
Zainal said during the Anwar trial, photojournalists would scan the negatives to check if there were usable images and rush them through the regional bureaus overseas by courier on a daily basis.
Reuters supplied a digital camera to him in 1999, mostly to cover the Anwar trial which was closely watched globally, he said.
Malaysiakini’s checks of Reuters’ archives found that the photos captured by the newswire on the day showed Anwar, sporting a black eye, walking alongside a policeman.
Malaysiakini has also contacted Wray, who is Jakarta based, the AP, and Anwar’s office for comment on the matter.
TikTok meme
Since Sept 30, 1998, Anwar has on numerous occasions raised his hand in the same manner, in front of a courthouse, during the course of his numerous trials.
The iconic image was also recreated for the poster of a biopic about him, which hit cinemas earlier this year.
The pose is now campaign fodder after Kedah caretaker Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor also raised his hand in the same manner at the Selayang Sessions Court last month.
This prompted a TikTok meme, with social media users raising their hands in the same way, to show support for Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Sanusi.
Malaysiakini is part of the Malaysian fact-checking alliance JomCheck.
Through JomCheck, Malaysians can submit requests to fact-check a claim by sending a WhatsApp message to the tipline at 017-477 6659 (WhatsApp text only, no calls), or via this link. - Mkini
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