Initially the federal Deputy Inspector General, Musa Hassan, made remarks to a similar effect, but also defended the ear squats as "standard procedure".
His comments led the leaders of all three opposition parties and an MP from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to call for Musa's resignation or dismissal.
Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar also stirred up controversy when he told foreigners upset about the scandal to "go home".
In another unrelated case, a remisier with a wife from China was asked for a bribe by a police officer so that the process of confirming her passport could be sped up.
On 25 November, the existence of the video recording of a female detainee, apparently of Chinese ethnicity, being forced to do ear squats in the nude was made public.
On 29 November 2005, it was reported in the local newspapers that the woman is a Malaysian who was detained during a drug raid at a nightspot, and who was later charged in court over a drug-related offence.
[1] In November 2006, a Washington Post front-page article reporting on the case identified the woman as Hemy Hamisa Abu Hassan Saari, a 23-year-old Malaysian babysitter.
Reportedly, the number of Chinese tourists had been dropping over the past few months, and it was feared the abuse scandal would further exacerbate the situation.
Lim Keng Yaik, a Minister and the leader of the Gerakan party, called for the establishment of a Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission.
Deputy Inspector General of the Police (IGP) Musa Hassan also initially promised that the perpetrators would be punished, but later stated "It is the perpetrator behind the video clip whom we are after and not the policewoman, who was carrying out a routine check," and that whoever filmed it would be charged under the Penal Code with insulting the woman's modesty, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.
They also attempted to determine the identity of the detainee by blowing up some stills from the video and having them distributed to prisons and immigration detention centres.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had earlier denied that strip searches were part of standard police procedure and that "There is no reason to embarrass and humiliate people in that manner."
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was told by doctors that performing ear squats was an inefficient means of examination and could not dislodge anything hidden in the vagina or rectum.
He promised to elaborate at Parliament the following day, but as Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Ramli Ngah Taib did not permit discussion of the incident, he was unable to.
Some of his aides stated that it appeared to be due to concern over the tsunami triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the opening of other travel destinations.
After it was revealed that the gadis lokap was a Malay, several Senators, or members of the Dewan Negara (the upper house of Parliament), asked that Kok and Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang be referred to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges for "causing confusion" and making groundless accusations based on allegedly misleading information.
Some also said that Azmi's China visit was for nothing, as the gadis lokap was a Malay, and argued that Lim and Kok deserved to be punished for causing an unnecessary trip.
However, Deputy Internal Security Minister Chia Kwang Chye insisted that Azmi's visit was not to apologise for the video clip in question.
He claimed he and his wife had both been stripped and hit by police personnel when they were detained, and called it "accepted practice in Malaysian lockups."
Raja Petra argued that the government was only bothering to take action because the economy, which is reliant on tourism, would be impacted by the reports of abuse.