Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has accused former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of trying to rewrite history.

This was after Mahathir, in an interview with Sin Chew Daily yesterday, claimed police had tried to hide their assault of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 from him, which resulted in the former deputy prime minister getting a black eye.

"Mahathir's latest confession is most puzzling and contradicts what had been revealed in court 20 years ago.

"First of all, when it was revealed that Anwar Ibrahim had a ‘black eye’, Mahathir said most likely Anwar punched his own face.

"When it was finally revealed that the inspector-general of police had punched Anwar, Mahathir did not offer any apology or retract his allegation that Anwar had punched his own face," Salleh said in a blog posting last night.

In the interview, Mahathir said he was angry that the police initially refused to charge Anwar in court.

"At first, they didn't want to tell me. (It was) later only they told me that they have given him a black eye.

"You see, after that, (if) you go to the court (with Anwar's black eye) and you know what is going to happen.

"But I insisted they must go to the court," Mahathir was quoted as saying.

However, Salleh rubbished Mahathir’s version of the event.

"If Mahathir thinks he can change history then he is badly mistaken. Everything that happened since 1997 is well-documented, mainly because of the internet.

"Mahathir had 20 years to set the record straight if what had been reported was wrong. It is now too late to change history," Salleh said.

In September 1998, Mahathir dismissed Anwar as deputy prime minister on grounds that he was involved in sodomy and abuse of power.

Subsequently, Anwar was produced in court with a swollen eye, an image which gained worldwide attention.

It was later revealed that then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor had assaulted him.

Rahim resigned from his post the following year, and was later sentenced to two months’ jail and fined RM2,000 for the assault.

Anwar was sentenced to jail terms of six and nine years respectively for abuse of power and for sodomy. The sodomy charge was overturned in 2004.

The opposition leader, who is currently in jail on the Sodomy II conviction, maintains that these charges were politically motivated.