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| Published in Washington, D.C. 5am -- October 26, 1998 |
Police clash with Anwar's supporters in violent protests
By Richard S. Ehrlich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
A wooden bat with two nails sticking out is among the weapons wielded by police in their struggle to contain violent anti-government protests before President Clinton and other leaders arrive next month.
After a month of relatively peaceful demonstrations, protesters hurled rocks and beat police for the first time on Saturday night. Police responded by forcefully, sometimes viciously, clearing the streets.
The protests are expected to continue through Nov. 12, when Mr. Clinton and other leaders arrive for a weeklong summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The demonstrators are demanding that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed resign and release his imprisoned former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.
The security problem will be a major concern for Malaysia's police, the U.S. Secret Service and others.
Malaysian police are already using U.S. laser technology to track dissidents' vehicles, along with indiscriminate use of chemical spray, frequent beatings and mass arrests. But it isn't stopping the protests.
Police were spread thin on Saturday as protests took place throughout the sprawling capital, starting in the afternoon at a downtown shopping area, where police repeatedly hosed protesters with a blue chemical foam that irritates the eyes, nose, throat and skin.
Concealing their faces with balaclavas, undercover police chased shoppers and demonstrators through department stores, beating several of them before making arrests.
The protests along the main shopping avenue have become a regular Saturday afternoon event among Mr. Anwar's mostly middle-class supporters, though this was the first time they have turned violent.
More trouble broke out late in the afternoon when some 1,000 men emerged from prayers at a mosque in a tough, low-income neighborhood several miles from the shopping district.
The men began disrupting traffic and chanting slogans against Mr. Mahathir and in praise of Mr. Anwar.
Police responded by hosing them with chemical spray before rushing forward to hit and arrest anyone they could catch.
The protesters later regrouped and began throwing rocks and beating a few suspected undercover policemen, some of whom were videotaping the scene.
A rifle-toting riot squad was rushed to the scene but remained in a protective circle around a chemical spray truck, leaving police to grapple with the crowd.
The officers brandished makeshift weapons including planks, huge rocks and, in one case, a wooden bat with two long, crooked nails sticking out to painfully whack victims.
Visibly frightened and angry, police said they feared the mob was arming itself with machetes and other knives.
Police reported making more than 240 arrests.
Malaysia's leading human rights organization, Suaram, has repeatedly denounced "police brutality" dating back to Mr. Anwar's first court appearance after his arrest in September for suspected homosexual activity and corruption.
Mr. Anwar, who showed up in court with bruises and a blackened eye, said police had beaten him until he bled from the nose and fell unconscious.
He denied the charges against him but was stripped of his post as the prime minister's heir apparent, and has remained in jail awaiting the start of his trial on Nov. 2.
Suaram said in a statement that it was "appalled" at "the police brutality inflicted on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while detained under the Internal Security Act."
It added: "There are widespread reports of police brutality against peaceful protesters who were arrested by the police.
"Mr. Tian Chua from Suaram ... was arrested with other bystanders and subsequently beaten by the [Federal Reserve Unit police] with batons, punched and kicked in his chest and stomach."
Suaram called for "the immediate resignation of the inspector-general of police, the immediate formation of an independent royal commission of inquiry to investigate the police violence" and protection of other human rights.
"The tense situation in the capital is further inflamed by the violent actions of the police," it said.
One green-uniformed General Operations Force policeman said of the street protests: "Actually, we were formed to fight terrorists in the jungle. But this is the biggest fighting I've seen in my seven years.
"This is not right," he said pointing at the protesters. "If they want to change things, they should do it through the polls."
In addition to Mr. Clinton, APEC representatives are expected from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
APEC has also invited three new members: Russia, Vietnam and Peru.