A furor erupted yesterday after a Malaysian woman identified herself as the mystery figure in a police abuse scandal thought to involve a Chinese national that triggered protests from Beijing.
An inquiry into the case heard testimony on Tuesday from a 22-year-old ethnic Malay who said she was the woman in a highly publicized video clip of a woman who was stripped and forced to perform squats in police custody.
The incident, dubbed "Malaysia's Abu Ghraib" after the Iraqi jail scandal, embarrassed the government and forced the home minister to make a fence-mending trip to China.
The footage, captured on a mobile phone, emerged after several Chinese women complained to the media of being humiliated and robbed by Malaysian police officers, after they were accused of possessing fake passports.
But the woman's testimony that she was a Muslim Malaysian arrested earlier this year on drugs charges raised questions over why the China link had not been ruled out earlier.
Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang criticized the handling of the case, saying that Malaysia's national interests had been undermined and that the scandal should have been "nipped in the bud" much sooner.
"It is ridiculous if a commission of inquiry has to be established to ascertain the nationality of the woman when such information is in the hands of the police, which should have been disclosed to parliament at the first available opportunity," he told reporters.
But he said the central issue was why police subjected any person to the humiliating squats procedure, apparently designed to reveal objects hidden in bodily cavities.
"Malaysians should be angry, regardless of her race or nationality, at such treatment," he said. "The treatment is deplorable."
The twist has reportedly triggered rumors that the woman, who appeared stockier than the fair-skinned woman in the video, was involved in a cover-up.
"There is already a suggestion that the woman who appeared before the commission yesterday may not be the woman in the video clip at all, as the police are involved in a massive cover-up," a columnist in the New Straits Times said yesterday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese