Friday December 2, 2005

Five-member independent panel to probe ear squat video incident named

KUALA LUMPUR: The five-member independent panel to investigate the ear squat video incident has been named. It has 30 days after the members receive their appointment letters to submit its report to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

As reported in The Star yesterday, former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah was named commission chairman, and former MCA deputy president Tan Sri Lim Ah Lek a member.

The other members of the panel are former Bar Council chairman Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari and Wanita Umno legal bureau chief Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim.

The fifth member is Internal Security Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Hamzah Md Rus, as the commission secretary.

All of them were also members of the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police. Hamzah was also the secretary then.

PROBE TEAM: The members of the panel are (from left) Dzaiddin, Lim, Hamzah, Kamilia and Kuthubul.

Dzaiddin's new panel is officially known as “The Commission of Inquiry into the Standard Operating Procedure, Approaches or Regulations in the Handling of Body Search in Connection with Arrest and Detention by the Police.”

The list was announced in a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Department late yesterday.

The commission set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1950, and took effect yesterday.

The statement stated the appointment of Dzaiddin and his team and that the four terms of reference had received the consent of the King.

The terms of reference were:

DETERMINE whether the woman seen in the video clip doing ear squats in the nude was one of the five Chinese nationals who were arrested and held by police;

INVESTIGATE the handling of the body search of the woman seen in the video clip doing ear squats in the nude;

DETERMINE whether there was any impropriety in the handling of the aforementioned body search; and

INVESTIGATE the standard operating procedure, approaches or regulations in the handling of body search in connection with the arrest and detention by the police, and to propose any changes if needed.

When contacted, Kuthubul said the panel would be able to zero in on the issue quickly as they were well-versed with police procedures having all served in the royal commission on the police.

“As we are all well-versed with police procedures from our experience in the royal commission, our job will be much easier.

“We trust we will be able to come up with procedures that will be more acceptable to the people, and in line with human rights policies,” he said.

Police have said that the incident involving the woman took place at the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters.

A video recording of the incident has been widely circulated by MMS.

The incident, which was made public in the Parliament on Nov 24, sparked public outrage and led to the Prime Minister's decision to order an independent inquiry.

Earlier report:
Dzaiddin to head panel to probe controversy

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