Of course, these were mere rumours and were never proven – until today – but these rumours were enough to start riots on the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Maybe this is what the government wanted. Maybe the government was the one that spread these rumours to get Anwar’s supporters to riot so that they can be shown as “ganas” or violent.

Anyway, rumour or otherwise, and never mind who started it, one thing that has been proven beyond any shadow of doubt, Anwar was beaten up, and he was beaten up by no less than Malaysia’s Chief of Police himself. This fact was established during a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

According to the former police chief, he slapped Anwar Ibrahim in a fit of anger. Tan Sri Rahim Noor told the Royal Commission of Inquiry that he slapped Anwar for allegedly insulting him.

Describing the incident, Tan Sri Rahim said that his initial instinct had been to untie Anwar's blindfold but, as he approached Anwar, Anwar referred to him as “the father of dogs”. At that point, he said, he struck out at Anwar. “I lost my cool, I lost my sense of control,” he said. 

Tan Sri Rahim, however, denied that the Prime Minister or anyone else had instructed him to beat up Anwar. He was very careful to point this out, as there were rumours that it was Mahathir who had wanted Anwar beaten up, maybe even murdered if possible.

“Let me make it clear, my act as referred to was not prompted, abetted, instructed, advised, directed, assisted by anyone else, not even my police officers who helped me, not even the Prime Minister,” clarified Tan Sri Rahim. 

Tan Sri Rahim also confirmed that Anwar, who was blindfolded in his prison cell at the time, fell over onto the concrete floor because of the beating. Tan Sri said he could not remember whether he delivered other blows to Anwar because he felt someone pulling him out of the cell. 

According to Anwar Ibrahim, though, he was assaulted repeatedly before passing out. Anwar told the Royal Commission of Inquiry he was punched, karate-chopped and slapped at least seven times until he was bleeding and later passed out unconscious.

Anwar was subsequently left on the floor, unconscious, until the next morning, and he was not given any medical attention until the next day.

Anwar Ibrahim, who is now suffering from a slipped disc, has been advised to have surgery. Anwar believes that the assault he suffered at the hands of the then police chief in 1998 could be one of the causes of his back injury.

A panel of doctors has suggested Anwar considers surgery but he says he wants to think about it and discuss it with his family first.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said a seven-member panel of experts found that Anwar's back injury, a condition known as a “prolapsed intervertebral disc” had deteriorated and that he needed immediate surgery.

“This recent development is most worrying since there is a high risk factor in surgery of this sort. There is the possibility of the patient becoming paralysed,” she said in a statement.

A simple case of a slipped disc? To the modern doctor, yes. To the old fashioned Malays, no!

The Malays believe that if you know the “right” way to beat someone, you can inflict damage on that person later on in life. Folklore tells us of certain warriors who had the power to hurt someone by hitting them. But the victim would not immediately suffer, they would suffer later on when they reach home, or a week later, or a month later.

This is the same for the “magical” or supernatural keris; the famous curved Malay dagger.

Some keris would kill immediately if you are stabbed with it. Others that have the “power”, you need not even stab someone with it - just a scratch will do - and that person would die from the “bisa” or poison of the keris.

Sometimes this poison would set in within hours. In other instances it may take days, or even weeks, before you succumb and die from the scratch.

I suppose if Tan Sri Rahim Noor, the ex-Chief of Police or IGP, were around 200 years ago he would be famous as a warrior with “bisa”. He had hit Anwar Ibrahim two years ago but only now is Anwar suffering the effects of that beating. This is what stuff Malay warriors are made of.

But then, come to think of it, a Malay warrior would never beat up a defenseless, tied-up, and blindfolded man. That, in Malay culture, would be a cowardly act.

And on the subject of poison, do you know that those poisonous keris I mentioned above were laced with Arsenic? Malays have been playing around with Arsenic for hundreds of years and are considered an authority on the matter. They know exactly how much to use to kill instantly, or to kill slowly over time.

But then this is a subject for the next article on how they tried to poison Anwar with Arsenic.

RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN