I refer to your report 'Anwar overthrow a 'disaster' ' ( South China Morning Post, August 18). Let me clarify the position of Singapore Senior Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Mr Lee had asked Dr Mahathir Mohamad at Davos, Switzerland, four months after Anwar Ibrahim's arrest: 'Why did you arrest Anwar under the Internal Security Act (ISA)? How could he be a national security threat when until four weeks ago he was your deputy?' Dr Mahathir said he did not know Anwar was to be arrested under the ISA. It was the legal prerogative of the police chief (then inspector-general of police, Rahim Noor).
Mr Lee said: 'It should have been a straightforward criminal charge for corruption and sodomy or whatever. Anwar should have been produced in court the day after the arrest.'
The next disaster was Anwar's black eye. Dr Mahathir told Mr Lee that he had nothing to do with that, as it was not in his interest.
The police inspector-general committed these blunders. Dr Mahathir carried the political fallout from Rahim's acts and paid a heavy price. The impression the world had was that Dr Mahathir had personally ordered Anwar's arrest under the ISA and the black eye. Anwar, with his black eye on world TV and in the newspapers, coloured international perceptions of his trial. It also affected the subsequent general elections.
Mr Lee could not understand Dr Mahathir's attitude, until he learned from Dr Mahathir's close friends that he tended to be very loyal towards officers who worked for him. With the Anwar trial over, Mr Lee wanted to put on record his belief that Dr Mahathir was not responsible for Anwar's arrest under the ISA, nor for Anwar's black eye, two events which triggered what followed.
YEONG YOON YING
