Bless your soul, dear Altantuya (wish you had better taste in men, though)...

From French subs to French subpoenas...

Courtesy of Malaysiakini

Eighteen years have elapsed since a 28-year-old Mongolian beauty named Altantuya Shaariibuu was abducted in front of Abdul Razak Baginda's residence by three plainclothes police officers (Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, Corporal Sirul Azahar and Lance Corporal Rohaniza) around dusk. Private investigator Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal, who was at the scene, later stated in a statutory declaration on 3 July 2008 that a mystery man arrived soon afterwards in a blue Proton Saga to check on the situation and then drove off. Bala subsequently identified the mystery man as Nasir Safar, special aide to then deputy prime minister Najib Razak.

In early November 2006 the sensational news broke around the world that the Mongolian beauty, reported missing by her cousin and traveling companions, had been brutally executed with two bullets to her head and her body blown to smithereens with military-grade C4 plastic explosives in a forest clearing near Puncak Alam (where forensic experts later found DNA traces of at least half a dozen other unidentified murder victims).

Two of Altantuya's abductors, Chief Inspector Azilah and Corporal Sirul, were found guilty of premeditated murder after a ridiculously tedious trial that dragged on 159 days. Musa Safri, their commanding officer and security chief to Najib Razak was not required to even testify. Nor was the Head of Immigration called to the stand to explain how details of three Mongolian women's arrival in Malaysia sometime in September 2006 had been completely deleted from the Immigration Department's computer database.

Indeed, on 23 August 2013, Azilah and Sirul were acquitted and released by an Appeals Court, which declared that the prosecution's case was fatally flawed. Although Sirul Azahar had earlier confessed to committing the atrocity under instruction from Chief Inspector Azilah, with an offer of RM100,000 as reward, both killers roamed free... at least for a while.

Needless to say, Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were never investigated and were deliberately omitted from the witness list. For full details of this sordid saga, click on all the embedded links.

In a land where justice hides in shame, there can be no future worth anticipating.

I have posthumously adopted Altantuya Shaariibuu as my soul-sister and vow to keep her memory alive - at least until the ones who ordered her gruesome murder are brought to justice and her spirit at last finds peace.

THE MURDER OF ALTANTUYA SHAARIIBUU

[First published 19 October 2010. Reposted 19 October 2013 & 19 October 2014]

FLASHBACK TO MAY 2011: Intense US diplomatic interest in Altantuya murder trial revealed by Wikileaks (reprise)

The US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur closely followed the trial of the accused killers of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu and frequently discussed whether current Prime Minister Najib Razak was involved in the killing, according to diplomatic cables supplied to Asia Sentinel by the WikiLeaks website.

The diplomats, like much of the public, also speculated that the trial was being deliberately delayed and feared what one cable calls "prosecutorial misconduct" that was being politically manipulated. The embassy officials based their concerns on sources within the prosecution, government and the political opposition.

The cables also draw attention to an intriguing allegation that then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi may have attempted to use the proceedings to implicate Najib, a claim that was quickly hushed up in the Malaysian press.

Sirul Azhar & Azilah Hadri, Najib's bodyguards

Altantuya was murdered in October 2006 by two of Najib's bodyguards, chief inspector Azilah Hadri, 30 and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, who stood trial and were pronounced guilty in April 2009.

Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Najib's best friends and Altantuya's lover, was accused of participating in the murder but was freed without having to put on a defence.

The murder has been tied closely to the US$1 billion acquisition of French submarines by the Malaysian Defence Ministry, which Najib headed during the acquisitions. Altantuya reportedly acted as a translator on the transaction, which netted Razak Baginda's company a 114 million euros (RM534.8 million) "commission" on the purchase.

Reportedly she had been offered US$500,000 for her part in translating. After she was jilted, she vainly demanded payment. A letter she had written was made public after her death saying she regretted attempting to "blackmail" Razak Baginda.

French lawyers are investigating whether some of the 114 million euros was kicked back to French or Malaysian politicians. Despite the scandal, the US government has not publicly backed away from Najib.

In April 2010, Najib visited the White House and was praised by President Barack Obama for the Parliament's passage of an act allowing Malaysian authorities to take action against individuals and entities engaged in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The cables are replete with accounts of a long series of meetings with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who repeatedly told the Americans that Najib was connected to corrupt practices in the acquisition of the submarines as well as the purchase of Sukhoi Su-MCM-30 Flanker fighter jets from Russia. Anwar also called attention to Najib's connection to the Altantuya case.

Prosecution ineptitude by design?

A Jan 24, 2007 cable, marked ‘secret', wrote that "Perceived irregularities on the part of prosecutors and the court, and the alleged destruction of some evidence, suggested to many that the case was subject to strong political pressure intended to protect Najib."

Altantuya with her son

In a Feb 1, 2008 cable, embassy's political section chief Mark D Clark wrote that a deputy prosecutor had told him "there was almost no chance of winning guilty verdicts in the on-going trial of defendants Razak Baginda (left), a close advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, and two police officers. She described the trial as interminably long." (That, of course, turned out to be wrong. Sirul (below, right) and Azilah (below, left) were ultimately convicted and have appealed their sentence).

Clark called the trial a "a prosecutorial embarrassment from its inception, leading many to speculate that the ineptitude was by design. On the eve of the trial, attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail dropped his lead prosecutors and replaced them with less experienced attorneys.

Similarly, a lead counsel for one of the defendants abruptly resigned before the trial 'because of (political) attempts to interfere with a defence he had proposed, in particular to protect an unnamed third party.'"

The protracted nature of the case, Clark continued, led "at least one regional newspaper to speculate that ‘the case is being deliberately delayed to drive it from public view'. Malaysia's daily newspapers rarely mention the case's latest developments, and it is unprecedented in Malaysian judicial history that a murder trial could drag on for seven months and still not give the defence an opportunity to present its case.

"Such an environment has led many to conclude that the case was too politically sensitive to yield a verdict before the anticipated general elections."

Musa Safri.
Najib's aide-de-camp

A January 2007 cable called attention to Razak Baginda's affidavit confirming that he sought the help of Musa Safri, later identified by reporters as Najib's aide-de-camp, in ridding him of the jilted woman, and in other cables pointed out that Musa had never been called for questioning.

In another cable, dated May 16, 2007, Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, a then aide to former prime minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi, told US Embassy officials that he was "certain that government prosecutors would limit their trial activities to the murder itself and the three defendants; prosecutors would not follow up on allegations of related corruption or other suspects."

In a Jan 27, 2007 cable, marked ‘Secret', embassy officials wrote that "In December we heard from one of (Anwar's) lawyers that Razak Baginda's wife was in contact with Anwar and Wan Azizah, suggesting one possible source for Anwar's information."

Razak Baginda's wife (right), during one of his first appearances in court, screamed that her husband "doesn't want to be prime minister." That was taken by observers as a reference to the fact that Najib reportedly had been having an affair with Altantuya, but passed her on to Razak Baginda because it would be unseemly to have a mistress when he succeeded Abdullah as premier. Najib has offered to swear on the Quran that he had never met the woman.

Perumal Balasubramaniam,
private investigator

However, in July 2008, P Balasubramaniam, a former police officer and private detective who had been hired by Razak Baginda to protect him from Altantuya, filed a sworn statement saying he had been told by the accused man that Najib not only knew the murdered woman but had an affair with her and introduced her to him.

In a telephone interview on May 9, Anwar, however, told Asia Sentinel that Razak Baginda's wife was not the source of his knowledge of Najib's connection and that instead he had been told of the connection by Setev Shaariibuu (seated right in photo), Altantuya's father, who said he had wished to present evidence of Najib's involvement, but was not allowed to do so. Multiple attempts to contact Setev by Asia Sentinel have been unsuccessful.

Almost immediately after he made the statement, Balasubramaniam was picked up and driven to a police station, where he was forced to withdraw the statement and write a new one saying Razak Baginda had told him nothing of the sort. Balasubramaniam fled Malaysia for India.

He later said Najib's brother, Nazim, and wife, Rosmah Mansor, had met with him and that he was offered RM5 million to forget his statement connecting Najib to Altantuya.

Balasubramaniam displayed a flock of checks drawn on the account of an associate of Najib's wife. The former private detective has made a series of statements from outside the country about Najib's involvement.

'You can die, Pak Lah'

A February 2008 cable from political section chief Clark gives a hint that Abdullah Badawi himself may have been trying to get rid of Najib by forcing Razak Baginda to implicate him in the murder.

Razak Baginda, wife & daughter

"In the latest turn of the ongoing Altantuya murder trial, accused political insider Abdul Razak Baginda, who has remained calm and composed through most of the proceedings, unleashed an emotional tirade shortly after the Feb 20 noon recess on the trial's 90th day," Clark wrote.

"Referring to the prime minister by his nick-name 'Pak Lah', Razak reportedly exclaimed: ‘You can die, Pak Lah! (in Malaysian - Matilah kau, Pak Lah!) I'm innocent!' according to unpublished journalist accounts.

"Local newspapers and the government news service Bernama reported the fact of the outburst, but did not print Razak's statements. The short-lived exception was the English language newspaper The Sun, which included the quotations from Razak in its early morning Feb 21 edition.

"Sources at newspaper confirmed to us in confidence that the Ministry of Internal Security compelled The Sun to withdraw and recall thousands of copies of their first run paper in which the original quote was included. Prime Minister Abdullah serves concurrently as Minister of Internal Security."

During the trial, Clark wrote, Razak Baginda, "appeared uneasy throughout the morning session of court on Feb 20. Razak's father, Abdullah Malim Baginda, had whispered something to him shortly before the trial had begun for the morning and apparently upset the accused.

Razak had remained quiet throughout the morning hearings, but just after the noon recess was called and as he was leaving the courtroom he kicked and banged the door and yelled, ‘You can die, Pak Lah! Die, Pak Lah! I am innocent. I am innocent.' He was later seen crying before his lawyer while his mother attempted to comfort him.

Shaariibuu Setev, the murdered woman's father

"Speculation is rife in Malaysia's online community concerning what it was that set off Razak Baginda outburst, including conspiracy theories alleging the Prime Minister's Office had urged Razak to implicate Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ... in return for sparing Razak a guilty verdict and its mandatory death sentence," officials wrote.

The cable goes on to write, "Regardless, the Internal Security Ministry would want to limit any possibly inflammatory reference to the prime minister at the trial, and particularly at this juncture due to the proximity of Malaysia's general election to be held on March 8. Any connection between the prime minister and the murder trial would be scandalous.

"The GOM (government of Malaysia) reportedly has worked hard to ‘drive (the case) from public view' ... and is not about to allow the case to influence the coming elections."

- Asia Sentinel

[Posted 14 April 2015]

The negative karma of ill-gotten gains (updated)

My blogger friend Donplaypuks requested that I help publicize the despicable show trial wherein the Malaysian Association of Chinese Comedians aka MACC has been trying to inflict pain and confusion on Rosli Dahlan (right) - a lawyer who got sucked into this mess simply for acting as legal counsel for former CCID chief Ramli Yusoff, who happens to be former IGP Musa Hassan's arch-enemy and rival for the post of Top Cop. Din Merican has done a great job of providing a blow-by-blow account of the grotesque proceedings, having diligently attended every session at court.

There appears to be no end to the disgusting shit flying around the political arena.


Almost 13 years later, Teoh Beng Hock's untimely death while in MACC custody remains unexplained - and nobody has been charged with culpable homicide. The inquest plodded along at snail's pace, making a complete mockery of justice. And even after a Royal Commission of Inquiry was convened as a result of public pressure, it turned out to be merely a delay tactic - because not one of the MACC interrogators has been convicted of being an accessory to murder or even for gross abuse of power.

All those mysterious deaths in police custody - not only A. Kugan's which received wide publicity but so many others (including the shocking case of a 14-year-old boy shot in the back of his head in a late-night car chase) - and not a single PDRM head has rolled, only a couple of low-ranking patsies scapegoated (as usual).

The RM13 billion PKFZ scandal is in danger of being completely covered in cobwebs, now that the man who initiated an official investigation has lost his job as MCA president. True, retired warlord Ling Liong Sik is being trotted out to take the rap, but it remains to be seen how his trial proceeds. Will he bare his soul and help bring his fellow criminal conspirators to justice? It would delight me no end to see the Three Tuns audited and behind bars (instead of hanging around in pubs). You know which three Tuns I'm referring to: Mahathir, Daim and Abdullah Badawi. [Since this was written a far bigger scandal has superseded PKFZ, namely the monstrous 1MDB scam that has left a staggering national debt of more than RM42 billion. Money-laundering investigations are underway in at least 6 countries.]

After nearly 16 years, the ghost of Altantuya still haunts Putrajaya - and MACC, as to be expected, chickened out of its commitment to meeting P.I. Balasubramaniam in London. It's clear as day the trail of serious wrongdoing leads directly to Najib Razak's desk. The macabre Altantuya Affair, intimately linked as it is with the disgraceful Scorpene and Agosta submarines scandal, ought to have terminated the present corrupt regime - because they are all implicated in the cover-up.

And, of course, the entire world is still sniggering at Famous Anus jokes and asking why Anwar Ibrahim appears to have been singled out for the dubious honor of being the only Malaysian to be charged with sodomy - TWICE in 10 years! Let's not even mention the disgraceful farce that has passed for a trial - even if his surprise acquittal on 9 January 2012 was an unexpected U-turn, indicative of conflicts within Umno's top leadership.

Meanwhile the defence ministry nonchalantly carries on with the purchase of all kinds of useless and unserviceable ordnance - all at outrageously marked up prices - while RM300,000 jet engines go missing and yet another Indian gets scapegoated.

All this rampant corruption and injustice hogging the headlines leaves me speechless. What can I say (apart from Tak Boleh lah, Bolehland)?

I have friends who still earn monthly salaries working for BN-owned media (oh sure, your kids deserve the best education money can buy, so they can get well-paying jobs after they graduate with Apco Worldwide, Halliburton, or BP).

As for Vincent Tan's deal-gone-sour with Najib, frankly I don't give a shit. I have no personal bone to pick with Vincent Tan (left), even though rumors are rife that he was instrumental in financing the defection of Hee Yit Foong and the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Perak. Just because Vincent Tan looks like a real tough hombre who drives a hard-nosed bargain doesn't mean he deserves to have his bloodline terminated (although I wouldn't protest too vigorously if Vincent and his fellow money-grubbing moguls like Rupert Murdoch swiftly became an extinct species on this planet).

3 years later a banner protesting the gold mine remains in place

Nor do I have a personal grudge against business tycoon Kam Woon Wah, erstwhile MCA secretary-general, whose son Andrew Kam Tai Yeow (left) is the guy behind the revival of the controversial Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of London-based Peninsular Gold Ltd).

But I met some of the Bukit Koman residents spearheading the campaign against Andrew Kam's highly polluting gold mine outside Raub and was inspired by their courage and resolve to stop the operations against all odds. For a start, the Pahang royal house has shares in the venture, which might explain why the police saw fit to arrest and detain overnight those leading the protest against the toxic gold mine. However, the Bukit Koman residents remain undaunted, though at a loss as to what to do next. Word has it that there really isn't as much gold to be found as the investors had hoped, which could put them out of business sooner than they expect. One can only wish such sociopathic miscreants a spectacular failure.

Local residents point out the toxic gold mine

It's the same old tiresome scenario. Whether the villain of the piece happens to be Union Carbide in Bhopal, BP-Halliburton in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bakun Hydroelectric Project in Sarawak, the Three Gorges Dam in China, Peninsular Gold in Bukit Koman, Lynas Rare Earth in Gebeng, or bauxite mining near Kuantan - it's invariably a conspiracy of already rich folks trying to get even richer at the expense of ordinary citizens with no financial or political clout.

A beancurd factory is located less than 200 yards from the gold mine

What can I do about it - apart from keeping the story in the public eye? Just as I can't persuade billions of humans to turn their backs on fizzy drinks, commercialized football, and their pathological addiction to newspapers and TV, I doubt I can wean people off their compulsion to find gold and hoard it. especially not if their surname happens to be Kam (which, in Chinese, means "gold"). Who cares if toxic chemicals seep into the groundwater and the air is polluted with rash-inducing particles?

General view of Bukit Koman, a village just outside Raub in Pahang

It's painfully embarrassing that we have to suffer the grandiose extravagance of so many royal households - each with its grubby fingers in multiple business pies. Surely anyone receiving a generous allowance for simply existing would be well satisfied and refrain from soiling their hands with dubious and unsavory business ventures? Alas, this has not been the case - at least not since the Mahathir Era. Everybody wants to be another King Farouk or live in ungodly splendor like the Saudi Royals.

It doesn't matter how the money is obtained, how many are made to suffer the deleterious consequences - or what hideous ruin is inflicted on the environment.

Well, I can envisage a time when the only individuals entitled to royalty claims will be those who can produce works of beauty and enduring truth in the form of artifacts like films, music, literature, stimulating dance performances, inspiring murals, public sculptures, and magnificent buildings.

Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd is hidden by the tall trees

Those who have accumulated their wealth through logging, mining, drilling, fracking, manufacturing junk, selling weaponry and accepting bribes will be universally marked as criminals and shunned wherever they go. I hope Taib Mahmud and Najib Razak's family is reading this. So be it.

[First published 29 June 2010, reposted 11 March 2012 & 4 April 2016]

Amina Describes Her Ordeal (Reprise)

On 8 November 2006 The Star headlines read: "Bone fragments of model found on hill." Eleven years down the line the key figures behind the gruesome murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu have yet to be investigated for their complicity in this high-profile crime of mind-boggling proportions, involving billions of ringgit worth of military spending and kickbacks - and implicating those now enthroned in the highest positions. Not only is the Malaysian government guilty of a massive cover-up, so also are all of us who choose to ignore the rotting elephant carcass in our living rooms....

[From a statutory declaration dated 1 July 2008, signed by Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal, private investigator...]

On Oct 19, 2006, I arrived at Abdul Razak Baginda’s house in Damansara Heights to begin my night duty. I had parked my car outside as usual. I saw a yellow Proton Perdana taxi pass by with three ladies inside, one of whom was Amina. The taxi did a U-turn and stopped in front of the house where these ladies rolled down the window and wished me ‘Happy Deepavali.’ The taxi then left.

About 20 minutes later the taxi returned with only Amina in it. She got out of the taxi and walked towards me and started talking to me. I sent an SMS to Abdul Razak Baginda informing him “Amina was here.” I received an SMS from Razak instructing me “to delay her until my man comes.”

Whist I was talking to Amina, she informed me of the following:

i) That she met Abdul Razak Baginda in Singapore with Najib Razak.

ii) That she had also met Abdul Razak Baginda and Najib Razak at a dinner in Paris.

iii) That she was promised a sum of US$500,000.00 as commission for assisting in a submarine deal in Paris.

iv) That Abdul Razak Baginda had bought her a house in Mongolia but her brother had refinanced it and she needed money to redeem it.

v) That her mother was ill and she needed money to pay for her treatment.

vi) That Abdul Razak Baginda had married her in Korea as her mother is Korean whilst her father was a Mongolian/Chinese mix.

vii) That if I wouldn’t allow her to see Abdul Razak Baginda, would I be able to arrange for her to see Najib Razak.

After talking to Amina for about 15 minutes, a red Proton Aeroback arrived with a woman and two men. I now know the woman to be lance corporal Rohaniza and the men, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azahar. They were all in plainclothes. Azilah walked towards me while the other two stayed in the car.

Azilah asked me whether the woman was Amina and I said “Yes”. He then walked off and made a few calls on his handphone. After 10 minutes another vehicle, a blue Proton Saga, driven by a Malay man, passed by slowly. The driver's window had been wound down and the driver was looking at us.

Azilah then informed me they would be taking Amina away. I informed Amina they were arresting her. The other two persons then got out of the red Proton and exchanged seats so that lance corporal Rohaniza and Amina were in the back while the two men were in the front. They drove off and that is the last I ever saw of Amina.

I don't know where they are taking me. At first I thought they would take me to the police station and question me, but we seem to be going away from the city. Maybe they are taking me to the airport and throwing me out of the country. More than half an hour later the car enters a gated driveway leading to a double-storey bungalow in a big garden. It's a very quiet area and I have no idea where I am. I feel very worried about the situation, but I try my best to look calm.

One of the men tells the lady something in Malay and she nods and returns to the car. The men then push me inside the house and force me to go upstairs. I am beginning to feel frightened, because this is definitely not a police station. What will they do to me?

One man opens a bedroom door and the other pushes me inside. I fear they may try to rape me as we appear to be alone in this big house. The men ask me for my handbag and they take away my watch, cellphone and jewelry. Then they push me inside a big empty wardrobe and shut the door. It is very dark and musty inside and I hear a key turning in the wardrobe door. I hear the men's voices discussing something, then they leave the room, and I am alone in the total darkness. I can hear my heart pounding very loudly. The sound of traffic from a great distance tells me we are quite far from the city.

I have no sense of time. I may have dozed off after an hour, I can't be sure. My stomach is growling, so it must be long after dinner time. I feel stiff and uncomfortable and my bladder is ready to burst. Amy must be wondering why I am not back at the hotel yet. I hope she will call Ang to enquire about me at the police station. That Razak is a coward. He dare not face me. Instead he has asked the police to kidnap me....

There are voices in the room and a key turns. The wardrobe door opens and I see several figures as my eyes adjust to the light. They are wearing black hoods and I can see only their eyes - but two of them are women. I am dragged out roughly and pushed to the floor. Now I am really scared. These people are dangerous, they are not behaving like police officers at all, more like members of a secret society.

While one of the hooded men lifts me off the floor, the large woman is shouting angrily at me, calling me all kinds of names. Suddenly she steps forward and slaps me very hard across the face - again and again and again - while my arms are held tight by the men. Tears sting my raw cheeks and I tell her stop but she keeps hitting me and spitting in my face.

She calls me a dirty prostitute and says I deserve to die. I don't know who this woman is but she is totally crazy, like a demon. Sometimes she shouts at me in English and then she says something in Malay. The other woman steps forward and tears the front of my dress with great force. She pulls off my bra and gags me with it, and then she yanks down my panties, so they are around my ankles.

The men push me to the floor and take turns raping me. One tries to sodomize me but gives up and forces himself into my mouth instead. I bite him and he screams in pain and hits my head very hard, till I almost lose consciousness. This is a horrible nightmare. It can't be happening to me! Who are these insane people? They can't be policemen! They are monsters! I can hear the large woman laughing like a witch...

Suddenly I am looking at the scene from somewhere above. My body is badly bruised and almost numb with shock. It's a strange feeling, to feel so detached from my body. I feel no anger. Only sadness and pity for my attackers who are so depraved they are no longer human. I know I will never see my family and friends again, because these people intend to kill me.

I am back in my body and it hurts all over. The woman is mercilessly beating me with a cane and kicking me while the others stand back. She keeps whacking my genitals until I feel nothing... then I am thankfully out of my body again.

I watch my unconscious body being carried downstairs. They tape my mouth shut and tie my hands and feet tight with plastic rope. Then they throw me into the back of a 4-wheel-drive and slam the door shut. The vehicle drives off, followed by two other cars.

After a long time the 4-wheel-drive stops and a few people climb into it. The road is very bad and bumpy but I am hovering close to my body, observing everything that happens. There is no more sound of traffic. We must be in the jungle somewhere because all I can hear are insects chirping loudly, and heavy breathing as my body is placed on a stretcher and carried by two men along a jungle path.

When they finally stop and put down the stretcher I hear the woman's voice again. Cold water is thrown on my face and I return to my body with a jerk. Slowly I try to open my eyes but I can't focus on anything because it is very dark, except for the flashlights carried by a few of my abductors. The woman's voice is very close to my ear as she hisses: "So long, Amina. Lovely to meet you at last. Have a pleasant journey." She laughs grotesquely and rips off the tape covering my mouth. "I want to hear you scream. Do you have any last words... dear Amina?" She has removed her hood so I can see her face. It's a very cruel face indeed. The others are not wearing hoods but I don't know who they are. The large woman is obviously their boss.

Out of the corner of my eye I catch the metallic gleam of a gun near my face and I know this is the end of my story. I gather my strength and say as calmly and clearly as possible, so they will hear every word: "You are evil people. I curse you forever. You will never know peace again." I feel myself transforming into a mother wolf, ready to pounce in defence of her cubs...

Then I hear a click and there is blinding flash. I am floating ten feet above my twitching body. After a while I see someone attaching something to my now lifeless body. I cannot believe they intend to blow up my corpse with explosives, so nobody will ever find my bones!


I look up and see a beautiful blue sky. The sun shines brilliantly over the distant mountains. I can hear voices singing in overtones the ancient melodies of the great steppes where my ancestors hunted and fought their battles. Suddenly I am flying like an eagle over the rugged landscape that feels so familiar. I am free as a bird and I am home at last.

[First published 19 October 2008. Reposted 8 November 2011 & 19 October 2014]

11 years on, Altantuya's bigwig killers stay elusive to the law but we all know who they are! (updated)

The three accused arriving at court (photo: AFP)

Despite a detailed confession of pre-meditated murder from Sirul Azhar bin Haji Umar (IC No: RF12559) recorded in Police Report No: 7380/06 on 9 November 2006 at 1635 hrs by Inspector Nom Phot a/l Prack Dit, the Court of Appeal on 23 August 2013 decided to let both Sirul Azhar and his instigator Capt. Azilah Hadri walk free.

Sirul Azhar (left) & Azilah Hadri 

It has been established that Capt. Azilah Hadri was from the elite UTK (Special Operations Unit of the Royal Malaysian Police) and had served as personal bodyguard to then defence minister and deputy prime minister Najib Razak. He was summoned by Najib’s ADC and security chief, DSP Musa Safri, after Abdul Razak Baginda reported to his close friend and biggest client Najib Razak, that he was being harassed relentlessly by a very determined Mongolian woman demanding her share of a RM540 million kickback from a top secret French submarine deal.

Sirul Azhar stated in his police statement that he was recruited by Azilah to assist in “taking care” of a nuisance named Aminah alias Altantuya Shaariibuu. He even added that a cash reward of RM50,000 –100,000 was involved. I doubt Sirul knew who had made the offer, and even if he did, whatever name he mentioned would have been deleted from his statement by police officers eager to protect the VVIPs in Umno Baru.

'Taken care' of at least 6 others

The third accused in the gruesome murder trial was Abdul Razak Baginda who submitted a sworn affidavit to the effect that he had briefed Capt. Azilah Hadri on the problem of Altantuya. Razak Baginda said Capt. Azilah had assured him he was quite up to the task, even boasting that he had previously “taken care” of at least six others.

Nobody in their right mind would confess to cold-blooded murder - more so when the victim is unknown to them and happens to be a pretty woman given the brush-off by some well-heeled and politically connected casanova. Altantuya was obviously not a hardcore criminal. Who would have had the heart to shoot her twice in the head point blank even as she was pleading for her life – and that of her unborn child? Whatever crime she might have committed, blackmail for example, she deserved her day in court. Every policeman knows that – or should in any case.

Altantuya Shaariibuu in Europe with Razak Baginda

However, Capt. Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar weren’t ordinary cops. They were commandos with the UTK, trained as crack sharpshooters and willing to carry out orders without question. Whose orders? Surely they would not obey Abdul Razak Baginda – a mere civilian, albeit one with political clout? The orders had to come from a superior police officer, in this instance Najib Razak’s ADC, former DSP Musa Safri, who has since been promoted and transferred to a different state.

Political masters must take the ultimate responsibility

"Could do with more kickback"

Why was Musa Safri never called as a witness during the trial, which ran a record 159 days? He was security chief and ADC to Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor. Whatever action he took would have been at their behest, in the interest of their personal security. DSP Musa Safri was clearly a loyal servant to his political masters. They are ones who must accept ultimate responsibility for the actions of their loyal servants – particularly if these actions involved abduction and cold-blooded murder, topped by the use of military-grade plastic explosives to destroy evidence of a dead body carrying an unborn child.

We must not forget that somebody in the Immigration Department deliberately deleted from the computer database all entry records of Altantuya Shaariibuu and her companions. Who would have the authority to order such a criminal act? In October 2006 when the drama unfolded the Ministry of Home Affairs (which controls the Immigration Department) had recently been restructured and, although Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad was nominally in charge, it was a period of confusion without clear lines of command.

There must be someone very high in the power hierarchy to accomplish these grievous misdeeds without a hitch (almost). Who does all the evidence point to? Who is the common denominator in this complex web of intrigue?

Was Rosmah really not at the scene? Or was she?

Altantuya Shaariibuu (6 May 1978 – 20 October 2006)

Abdul Razak Baginda had friends in powerful places but maintained a relatively low public profile. He had little to lose except his reputation if his sordid affair with Altantuya became public knowledge - apart from facing the wrath of his wife, Mazlinda Makhzan (a director in the company involved with the submarine deal). Even if this scandal resulted in an investigation by the MACC, it would have been a routine matter to get the case closed after the excitement had subsided.

Same goes for the uniformed personnel involved in the case. Musa Safri may have been guilty of abetting a serious crime, but as a typical Malay police officer whose loyalty to his Tuan Besar superseded his duty as a public servant, he would have received a measure of sympathy had he confessed his role and cleared the path for justice to be served. Capt. Azilah and Sirul were clearly implicated, via Sirul’s confession as well as the detailed statutory declaration signed by private investigator Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal. However, their role was essentially to carry out somebody else’s dirty work.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In a statutory declaration signed on 18 June 2008 by Raja Petra Kamarudin (the controversial blogger and editor of newsportal Malaysia Today better known as RPK), several others were implicated in the sensational murder. Indeed, RPK’s declaration revealed that Najib’s ambitious wife Rosmah Mansor may have been at the murder scene, along with two high-ranking officers attached to the defence ministry’s engineering corps, Lt Kol, Abdul Aziz Buyong and his wife Lt Kol. Norhayati Hassan, both experts in the use of C4 explosives. RPK claimed he had been given this shocking information by a senior Military Intelligence officer.

RPK subsequently retracted his statutory declaration in April 2011 in a heavily edited interview with TV3, a government-friendly station, explaining that he cannot be certain if what he heard was actually true. His excuse was that he felt it was his duty as a citizen to make public what he had been told in confidence. Others saw it as a clue that RPK might have been instigated into filing his June 2008 declaration by factions focused on derailing Najib Razak’s prime ministerial aspirations.

Who has been leaking the info?

Within Umno Baru there are many who would like to see Najib Razak and his influential wife removed from the game – and the Altantuya scandal serves as the perfect weapon.

Three names immediately spring to mind: Mahathir Mohamad, whose primary goal is to ensure that his youngest son, Mukhriz, eventually becomes prime minister; Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who has been eyeing the PM’s post since the mid-1980s; and Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib’s erstwhile deputy, who certainly wouldn’t mind a shot at taking over as Top Gun (or at least seeing the man who fired him forced to step down).

While an in-depth inquiry into the Altantuya murder would have revealed the fact that the Scorpene submarine scam was first mooted in 2002, during Mahathir’s tenure, Najib Razak would definitely be implicated as he was then Mahathir’s defence minister.

Abdul Razak Baginda, according to P.I. Bala’s explosive statutory declaration of 3 July 2008, had been introduced to Altantuya Shaariibuu by his buddy Najib Razak at a diamond expo in Singapore. In an unguarded moment, Razak Baginda had confided to his private eye that Najib could not afford a major scandal after being appointed deputy prime minister, only one step from the top. So he wanted Razak Baginda to take over the role of sugar daddy to his high-maintenance Mongolian paramour.

It is public knowledge that Najib Razak has always had an eye for beautiful women. This weakness is every public figure’s Achilles’ Heel – especially in a political jungle acrawl with hidden predators and a culture supercharged with hypocrisy and false piety.

Hotbed of intrigue

Dr Shaariibuu Setev, father of the murdered girl

With such colossal amounts of money involved, Umno Baru qualifies as a hotbed of intrigue. Parry and thrust, bribery and threat, playing one faction against another – these are par for the course in our benighted political milieu. Nobody wants to risk losing everything, so marriages of convenience, cynical pragmatism, and political trade-offs become the norm. Who cares about the truth? It’s all a matter of perception anyhow, and that’s where the professional spin-doctors come in. Who cares about justice? It can be bought and sold if you have deep pockets.

Umno Baru has sunk up to its tall songkok in a quagmire of deceit and a conspiracy of silence. While some may be happy to see Najib and Rosmah brought down and taken off the game board, there are others who fear losing power completely in the event of an ugly leadership tussle. They would rather serve a tainted leader who can offer them perks – than a clean one who might immediately sack them for incompetence and greed.

A nation that closes its eye to cold-blooded murder

In happier days: Altantuya with her firstborn

And so, eleven years after her cruel and unnecessary death at the hands of ruthless mobsters posing as the government of Malaysia, Altantuya Shaariibuu’s ghost has yet to be appeased. The deafening silence surrounding this nightmarish episode reveals a conspiracy at the highest levels of power – and the entire Barisan Nasional federal government is, in fact, guilty of complicity in first-degree murder.

Since the government is supposed to represent the whole nation, every Malaysian will suffer the same curse – until we reclaim our collective conscience and our pride as citizens of a nation gone horribly wrong. Is that what we deserve after 60 years of nationhood – to be seen as a gigantic crime syndicate of congenital liars, hypocrites, thieves, rapists, and murderers?

[From Malaysia Chronicle, 28 October 2013. First posted 13 January 2014, reposted 18 October 2014 & 11 August 2015]

Najib Razak: a sordid legacy of sex scandals, kickbacks and grisly murder? [Flashback]

Submarine deal resurfaces to haunt Malaysia’s top man

Monday, 4 June 2012 | Roger Mitton | The Phnom Penh Post

A decision made in Paris last month means that one of this region’s most sensational episodes is going to resurface with a vengeance.

It began a dozen years ago when Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak held the defence portfolio and ordered two Scorpene submarines from the French shipbuilder, DCNS, for about US$400 million each.

Najib's close buddy Razak Baginda,
adviser to the Malaysian Defence Ministry
(pic: The Nut Graph)

The deal was brokered by Razak Baginda, who ran the Malaysian Strategic Research Institute, which was funded by Najib and designed to further his political career.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me reveal that I met Razak regularly during my posting in Kuala Lumpur in the 1990s and continue to see him each time I visit Malaysia.

When he became pointman for the Scorpene purchase, however, I had left KL and did not see him again until we met in Venice, Italy, at the 2002 ASEAN-Europe conference.

Razak attended only briefly and when I asked why he was rushing off, he said he was needed in Paris for an important defence deal.

Later, it was revealed in the Malaysian parliament that the “commission” for the sub contract was 114 million euros, or about $160 million at the time.

The money was paid into the KL bank account of Perimekar, a company set up by Razak just before the contract was signed and which had no track record of handling defence procurements.

Razak Baginda with his lawyers

It is alleged that the $160 million was split between Razak, Najib and other figures in the United Malays National Organisation, the dominant party in Malaysia’s ruling National Front coalition.

Based on this allegation, the French police raided the offices of DCNS and seized a stack of documents indicating the payment of massive bribes.

And last month, after examining the documents, Judge Roger Le Loire ordered a criminal investigation to be launched.

It will almost certainly involve filing subpoenas for both Razak and Prime Minister Najib to appear in court.

Before considering that dramatic prospect, however, we must recall that when negotiating the contract, something amazing happened to Razak.

He fell in love.

Now although Razak, a family man with a high-profile public image, had long emulated the philandering reputation of his mentor Najib, this latest affair was completely different.

He fell hook, line and sinker for the woman – a stunningly beautiful Mongolian model named Altantuya “Tuya” Shaariibuu.

Altantuya in Milan with Razak Baginda

Soon after meeting her in Hong Kong, Razak took her off to tour Europe in his red Ferrari, wining and dining at all the best spots and finally ending up in Paris where they met Najib.

Multilingual Tuya, as well as being drop-dead gorgeous, was also smart and quickly learned about the huge bribe for the sub deal and doubtless envisaged a handsome cut for herself.

But succumbing to “fatal attraction syndrome”, she clung relentlessly to Razak, and he, fearing that her indiscretions might bring him down, tried to end the affair.

She would not have it, and in desperation, he spoke to Najib and the police were called in to keep her away.

Two aggressive Special Branch officers took their assignment literally and kidnapped her.

Then they raped her, shot her in the head and blew up her body with C4 explosives from Najib’s defence ministry – and for good measure, erased her entry into Malaysia from immigration records.

In effect, she vanished.

Shaariibuu Setev, father of the murdered beauty

But thanks to continued pressure from her well-connected family and the Mongolian Embassy, the crime was eventually uncovered and those involved arrested – all except Najib, of course.

After a long, lurid and electrifying trial, the two cops were sentenced to death and Razak was acquitted. Now, however, with the launch of Judge Le Loire’s investigation in Paris, it appears he could soon be back in court.

And PM Najib may not escape so easily either, since the issue will be raised in parliament next week and will impact the coming general election.

If so, Tuya’s gruesome death will not have been in vain.

Like a scene out of a macabre murder mystery...

Najib Razak: a sordid legacy of sex scandals, kickbacks and grisly murder?

[First posted 7 June 2012]