Ear squats is a 'heritage and tradition'. At least according to one police officer, whose remark had a packed courtroom in Kuala Lumpur in stitches this morning.

The statement came from C/Insp Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, the officer-in-charge of the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters.

He was testifying at the first hearing of the independent commission tasked to probe the case of a woman, believed to be of Chinese origin, being forced to do ear squats in the nude at the district police headquarters.

The hearing was held at a courtroom at the Sultan Abdul Samad building in Kuala Lumpur.

Asked if squats was part of procedure, Abdul Aziz replied, much to the amusement of those present, that it was a "warisan (heritage) handed down and a tradition".

He said normally detainees held in connection with serious offences would be asked to strip and perform ear squats for "not more than 10 times".

Asked if those possessing fake passports would be subjected to a similar treatment, he said: "Those suspected of serious crimes or nabbed at entertainment outlets will be asked to strip."

The nude ear squats issue came to light after a video-clip of the incident, recorded using a mobile phone, was exposed by DAP parliamentarian Teresa Kok last month.

Abdul Aziz was also asked if he could identify the policewoman in the clip who had ordered the detainee to do the squats. He revealed that her name was L/Cpl Wan Zawati Zalina Wan Ismail.

At that point, Wan Zawati, who was seated in the public gallery, was asked to come forward by the commission. Clad in a baju kurung, she appeared to be embarrassed and nervous.

On the video clip, Abdul Aziz, who has been in charge of the police headquarters since June 1, 2002, said he believed that it was recorded from the ventilation shaft.

Asked if he was aware of who had recorded the incident, he replied: "I was told by L/Cpl Suhaimi (no last name) that he had watched the clip shown by Cpl Mohd Zul Fatah at the end of this June."

Standard practice

Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya district police chief acting ACP Mohd Hazam Abd Halim (photo) told the commission that there was no standing order from the inspector-general of police or any other relevant regulation or guidelines which specified that a detainee should perform ear squats.

According to him, ear squats were done upon verbal orders from senior officers and is practiced throughout the country.

"It is only a standard practice ... there is no directive about it in the Lock-Up Rules 1953. It is mostly performed on those picked up for drug offences, murders, dangerous crimes and firearms offences," he said.

He said only women personnel were allowed to perform body searches on women detainees and this is carried out in a separate room from the lock-ups for male detainees.

No body contact is allowed, he added.

The district police chief also said that he always advised his personnel to treat detainees with 'respect and dignity'.

As for the clip, Mohd Hazam said he was notified of it on the morning of Nov 24, the same day Kok had revealed it, by Abdul Aziz who showed him the recording.

After discussing the matter with the district CID chief, he said that he lodged a police report regarding the incident later in the day.

Given the location of the lock-up, Mohd Hazam said only an insider would have been able to record the incident.

Questioned on why the clip also had Al-Quran recitals in the background, he replied that there was a surau in the police headquarters.

Inside job

To the commission's question on how the district police chief ensures that his officers follow procedure, Mohd Hazam said this is the reason why senior officers and he himself conducted spot checks at the lock-ups.

Both Abdul Aziz and Mohd Hazam were shown the clip by the commission during their respective testimonies.

The district headquarter's photographer L/CPL Zainol Nor Rashid Mat Arip was also called up by the commission this morning and was quizzed on the photographs he had taken of the lock-up and the police headquarters.

When the doors of the courtroom opened at about 9.30am, some 50 people and journalists rushed in for seats.

The five-member commission, headed by former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, was formed upon the orders of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who had expressed outrage over the incident.

The other commissioners are former MCA deputy president Lim Ah Lek, Wanita Umno Legal Aid Bureau Chief Kamilia Ibrahim, former Bar Council chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari and Internal Security Ministry deputy secretary-general Hamzah Mohd Rus who is the commission's secretary.

The commission, which has 30 working days to complete the probe, also visited the police headquarters later this afternoon.

Also present today were the four Chinese nationals, who had complained of police abuse earlier, together with Kok and their counsel Sankara Nair. However, they left a short while later.

The hearing continues tomorrow.