Whether the woman victim in the naked ear-squat videoclip is China national or local Malay should be clarified immediately and not wait until Dzaiddin Inquiry 2 completes its work in a month’s time

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Media Statement

by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Friday): Whether the woman victim in the naked ear-squat videoclip is China national or local Malay should be clarified immediately and not wait until  the Dzaiddin Inquiry 2 completes its work in a month’s time.

On Wednesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei summoned Malaysian Ambassador to China Syed Norulzaman in Beijing  “to make stern representations over the matter that Chinese citizens have been successively humiliated and assaulted in Malaysia.“

People’s Daily Online quoted Xinhua that Wu said the Chinese government attached “great importance to safeguarding the dignity and safety of Chinese citizens” and was deeply concerned about the incident.

It said that  “China has asked Malaysia to conduct an immediate investigation into the cases in an earnest and responsible manner and take effective measures to prevent the reoccurrence of such incident”.

Was Wu Dawei informed that the woman in the videoclip scandal is not a Chinese national?

There can be no reason why the nationality of the woman should be kept a secret, whether from the Chinese government or the Malaysian public.

If the Police continues to be obstinate and recalcitrant in refusing to reveal the nationality of the woman, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should intervene to overrule the Police in the public interest, and at the latest, the nationality of the woman should  be reported to Parliament when it reconvenes on Monday to debate the 2006 budget estimates for the Police.

Whether the woman victim of the police Abu Ghraib videoclip scandal is Chinese nationality or a local Malay – as claimed by Utusan Malaysia yesterday – does not detract from the fact that the strip ear-squat outrage is an unacceptable police violation of human rights and must be exposed fully.

     
(03/12/2005)