KENYATAAN BERSAMA

Barisan Alternatif mengambil perhatian bahawa pakar-pakar dari Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) mendapati bahawa Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim:

1. tidak mempunyai tanda-tanda keracunan arsenik yang akut atau kronik; dan

2. tidak mengidap penyakit seperti HIV, kegagalan ginjal, tuberculosis atau kanser yang boleh menjadi punca kepada tanda-tanda  yang ada padanya.

Rakyat Malaysia telah berdoa panjang memohon agar Anwar  pulih. Doa mereka dimakbulkan. Pasukan perubatan HUKM yang telah menjaga Anwar selama 24 hari perlu  dipuji kerana rawatan serta keprihatinan mereka yang profesional.

Berita bahawa Anwar  bebas daripada keracunan arsenik yang akut atau kronik mempunyai erti yang istimewa bagi Barisan Alternatif. Sebabnya, Anwar adalah calon Alternatif untuk jawatan Perdana Menteri seandainya Gabungan kami berkuasa selepas Pilihanraya Umum akan datang.

Barisan Alternatif juga melihat  pakar-pakar HUKM tidak mencabar kesahihan laporan dari makmal Gribbles Melbourne bahawa air kencing  Anwar yang telah diambil pada 18 Ogos 1999 mengandungi paras arsenik yang bahaya.

Barisan Alternatif merasa terkilan kerana HUKM tidak dapat memastikan punca asas masalah-masalah kesihatan Anwar, yang meliputi penurunan berat badan, keguguran rambut, kebas-kebas jari, sakit kepala serta sakit perut, hipotensi ortostatik, dan abnormaliti paru-paru.

Oleh kerana itu, Barisan Alternatif mendesak supaya Suruhanjaya Penyiasat Diraja dibentuk  untuk mengkaji semua soal berkaitan dakwaan keracunan Anwar, sama ada bermula 18 Ogos, sebelumnya atau selepasnya, dan khususnya kesihatan serta layanan di penjara untuk Anwar.

Laporan HUKM pada penutup merumuskan  kesihatan Anwar memerlukan pemantauan
rapi. Sungguhpun beliau telah dikeluarkan dari hospital pada 4 Oktober, namun kami berpendapat bahawa keadaan kesihatannya memerlukan beliau terus tinggal di hospital, sehingga punca kesihatannya yang semakin merosot itu diketahui.

Sehingga hasil siasatan Suruhanjaya diumumkan, Anwar tidak harus dibawa pulang ke penjara. Pada pandangan kami, keputusan menghantarnya pulang ke Sungai Buluh pada 4 Oktober  itu adalah tidak wajar.

Sementelah pula, Anwar dipenjara atas tuduhan beliau menyekat perjalanan keadilan, dan ini adalah kesalahan yang boleh diikat jamin. Oleh itu kami menegaskan semula tuntutan yang telah dibuat oleh berbagai-bagai parti alternatif dan badan bukan-kerajaan (NGO) supaya Anwar dilepaskan dengan ikat jamin.

Sepatutnya pihak berkuasa menunjukkan sikap kemanusiaan dan belas ihsan terhadap kesihatan dan pemenjaraan Anwar. Akan tetapi, sebaliknya mereka sekarang menuduh pula bahawa Anwar telah membuat laporan palsu tentang contoh air kencingnya yang dihantar ke makmal Gribbles,  dan kini polis hendak mengambil tindakan  terhadapnya.

Laporan HUKM tidak pernah menyatakan bahawa ujian air kencing oleh Gribbbles itu palsu. Sebagaimana yang kami sebut di atas, mengikut laporan patologi Gribbles, paras keracunan arsenik dalam contoh air kencing yang diambil pada 18 Ogos itu sangat tinggi. Tuduhan kononnya Anwar sengaja membuat laporan palsu kepada polis merupakan satu dakwaan yang jahat.

Barisan Alternatif ingin bertanya: Mengapakah pihak polis begitu ghairah sekali hendak mengambil tindakan terhadap Anwar kerana  laporannya mengenai tuduhan keracunan arsenik ini, walhal mereka tidak membuat apa-apa pun tentang empat laporan polis yang telah dibuatnya lebih awal,  mendakwa amalan korupsi dan salah guna kuasa yang melibatkan Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik, Tan Sri Mokhtar Abdullah dan Datuk Gani Patail. Inilah dia ukuran keadilan yang dipilih-dipilih, yang menghantui negara ini sekarang.

Begitu juga, pemimpin-pemimpin pemerintah tidak mempunyai alasan untuk menuduh Dr Wan Azizah sebagai menipu orang ramai ataupun bersubhat dalam suatu pembohongan  berkaitan dakwaan  keracunan suaminya. Oleh kerana terlalu bimbang dengan kemerosotan kesihatan suaminya maka beliau mengambil contoh air kencingnya  dan menghantarnya untuk ujian.  Oleh kerana ia menunjukkan paras arsenik yang tinggi maka beliau menyerahkan laporan
patologi Gribbles itu kepada peguam-peguam Anwar, yang segera menarik perhatian Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur. Sangat tepat bagi Mahkamah menghantar Anwar segera ke Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia untuk mendapat rawatan. Rentetan peristiwa ini memusnahkan pembohongan bahawa Anwar, isterinya dan peguam-peguamnya konon sengaja hendak memperdaya orang ramai.

Bagi Barisan Alternatif, layanan tidak adil dan tidak berperikemanusiaan ke atas Anwar Ibrahim, terus menjadi isu paling penting yang menghadapi Rakyat Malaysia, menjelang Pilihanraya Umum kesepuluh.
 

YB Dato' Fadzil Mohd Noor                      YB Lim Kit Siang
Presiden                                                 Setiausaha Agung
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS)                   Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP)
 

Dr Syed Husin Ali                                     Dr Chandra Muzaffar
Presiden                                                  Timbalan Presiden
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)                     Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan)

8 Oktober 1999

Joint Media Statement

Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan)
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS)
Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP)
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)
_____________________________________________________________

Anwar's Arsenic Poisoning and Health: Barisan Alternatif Demands Royal Commission of Inquiry
 

The Barisan Alternatif notes that specialists from Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) have found that Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim:

1. does not suffer from acute or chronic arsenic poisoning; and

2. does not have diseases like HIV, kidney failure, tuberculosis or cancer which could cause some of the symptoms he has.

The Malaysian people had prayed hard for Anwar's recovery.  Their prayers have been answered.  The HUKM medical team which looked after Anwar for 24 days should also be commended for their professional care and concern.

The news that Anwar is free from acute or chronic arsenic poisoning is of special significance to the Barisan Alternatif.  For Anwar is the Alternatif's nominee for the position of Prime Minister if our Coalition comes to power in the coming General Election.

The Barisan Alternatif also observes that the HUKM specialists have not challenged the veracity of the Melbourne Gribbles laboratory report that Anwar's urine sample taken on 18th August 1999 had a dangerously high level of arsenic.

The Barisan Alternatif is gravely concerned that  HUKM has not been able to establish the underlying cause of Anwar's health problems, which include rapid weight loss, significant hair loss, numbness in the fingers and headache and stomach ache, orthostatic hypotension and abnormality in the lungs.

For these reasons, the Barisan Alternatif demands that a Royal Commission of Inquiry be set up to investigate the whole question of Anwar's alleged arsenic poisoning, whether as of August 18, 1999, before or after, and specifically into the health and prison treatment of
Anwar.

The HUKM report concludes that Anwar's health has to be monitored closely. While the Hospital had discharged him on 4 October, we are of the view that his health condition requires that he remains in hospital until the real cause of his declining health is clearly established.

Until the findings of the Commission are made public, Anwar should not be sent back to prison.  The decision to send him back to Sungai Buluh on 4 October was, from that point of view, wrong.

In any case, Anwar is in prison for allegedly obstructing the course of justice which is a bailable offence.  We therefore reiterate the demand made by various alternative parties and NGOs that Anwar be released on bail.

Instead of showing some humanity and compassion in relation to Anwar's health and imprisonment, the authorities are now alleging that Anwar made a false report about his urine sample sent to the Gribbles laboratory in Melbourne and that the police would act against him.  The HUKM report does not at any point state that the Gribbles urine test was false.  As
we have pointed out, it acknowledges that according to the Gribbles pathology report the arsenic level in the urine sample taken on 18 August was abnormally high.  Accusing Anwar of wilfully making a false police report is nothing but a malicious allegation.

The Barisan Alternatif asks:  Why is the Police so eager to take action against Anwar over his report on alleged arsenic poisoning when it has done nothing about four other police reports that he had made, supported by documentary evidence, alleging corruption and abuse of power on the part of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah and Datuk Gani Patail. This is a measure of the selective justice that haunts the nation today.

Likewise, government leaders have no basis for accusing Dr. Wan Azizah of deceiving the public or conniving in a hoax about her husband's alleged poisoning.  It was because she was deeply concerned about his deteriorating health that she took his urine sample and had it tested. Since it showed a high level of arsenic she passed on the Gribbles pathology report immediately to Anwar's lawyers who promptly alerted the Kuala Lumpur High Court.  The Court rightly sent Anwar at once to the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for treatment.  This train of events demolishes the lie about Anwar or his wife or his lawyers
deliberately hoodwinking the public.

For the Barisan Alternatif, the unjust, inhuman treatment of Anwar Ibrahim remains a fundamental issue facing the Malaysian people on the eve of the tenth General Election.
 

YB Dato' Fadzil Mohd Noor                      YB Lim Kit Siang
President                                                 Secretary-General
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS)                   Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP)
 

Dr Syed Husin Ali                                     Dr Chandra Muzaffar
President                                                  Deputy President
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)                     Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan)

8 October 1999