By Dr Chen Man Hin
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that ‘storing DNA from people with no criminal record is in breach of their rights, as this constitute a violation of a person’s right to a private life.’
The Home Minister and the police should realise that DNA is the private property of an individual, and permission must be obtained to obtain DNA from him
This concept of personal privacy has been practised by doctors since the time of Hippocrates in the 4th century BC. Doctors swear by the Hippocrates Oath on graduation. any information of the patient is his private property and cannot be revealed to a third person, unless with the express permission of the patient.
This implies that the individual has a right to protection from indiscriminate extraction of blood samples by the home minister or the police, for the DNA is the private property of the individual.
Anwar Ibrahim’s DNA is a case in point. He was accused of sodomy the second time, and the police demanded for his DNA. The allegation of sodomy was a trumped-up plan to incriminate Anwar and prevent him from being prime minster of Malaysia.
His lawyers are fighting to prevent any forcible attempt by the police to obtain DNA sample from Anwar, and rightly so, as the DNA could be used by the police to fabricate evidence against Anwar.
The experience of the first sodomy charge in 1998 is a clear example. The so-called sodomy was trumped up by Tun Mahathir, and subsequently overturned by the court. At that time, DNA was extracted from Anwar, and used to fabricate evidence against him.
The ECHR ruling is a clear warning to the home minister and the police to respect the human right of an individual, and should not indiscriminately extract DNA from an individual unless there is hard evidence.
As far as is known there is no hard evidence to justify the charge of sodomy against Anwar. The home minister should drop the case against Anwar.