Monday, March 23, 2009

Next Malaysian PM linked to murder (PhilStar.Com)

Upon winning unopposed in end-March as head of his ruling UMNO party, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak will become the new PM. Charges of sleaze have stained his political rise. Now a report in French paper Liberation, of ties to a murdered Mongolian model, threatens his career. Reprinted in two parts is the English version, “The Altantuya Case: How and Why She Was Killed”, with permission from author Arnaud Dubus. Writing from Kuala Lumpur, Ulan Bator and Paris, Dubus presents a gripping investigative account:
Things turned dramatic Oct. 2006. Altantuya Sharibu got word that the “commission” from French-Spanish company Armaris had arrived at a Malaysian bank account. It had been paid to Perimekar, a company owned by Abdul Razak Baginda, intermediary of deputy PM and defense minister Najib Razak. Altantuya rushed to Kuala Lumpur to claim her share of the “commission” from Baginda; she said she was entitled to $500,000. Baginda and Altantuya had broken up prior to this. A jealous Rosmah Mansor, the feared businesswoman-wife of Najib Razak, objected to any payment to Altantuya.
Altantuya had arrived with two other Mongolian women, one of them a shaman tasked to put a spell on Baginda if he refused to pay up. For days Altantuya harassed her ex-lover. On Oct. 18 Baginda could no longer tolerate the daily scenes she made in front of his house. He contacted Musa Safrie, the director of the Special Branch and Najib Razak’s aide de camp.
On Oct. 19 just before 9 p.m. two Special Branch agents, Azilah Hadridan and Sirul Omar, were sent to Baginda’s house where Altantuya was gesticulating and yelling outside. They had the order to “neutralize the Chinese woman.” They kidnapped and drove her ten kilometers away and shot her several times. Then they destroyed her body with C4 explosives, a type that can only be obtained from within the Defense Ministry. Her entry into Malaysia was erased from immigration records. It would appear that Altantuya had never come to Malaysia; no trace was left of her.
There is no perfect crime. The taxi driver hired by Altantuya for the day did not relish that his passenger was abducted before his eyes without payment for the fare. He took note of the abductors’ car plate and filed a complaint at the local police station. Within days the police identified the car as government-owned. Events unfolded that even a deputy prime minister could not impede. Najib Razak tried to cover up. A few hours before Baginda’s arrest, he sent him an SMS: “I will see the Inspector General of Police at 11 a.m. today... The problem will be solved. Stay calm.” Still Baginda was arrested, along with the two Special Branch officers, Azilah and Sirul.
After a trial considered dubious by many observers, Baginda was acquitted of ordering the murder, and released in Nov. 2008. Accused of committing the murder, Azilah and Sirul appeared in court last month. If convicted, they face death. The verdict is due on Apr. 9.
Thousands of miles away in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Batur, Sharibu Setev, Altantuya’s father, is trying to control his anger. To him and his family, Baginda’s acquittal and release depict Malaysia’s unjust judicial process. “The Malaysian government is not even answering letters from the Mongolian Foreign Ministry,” he says. When Sharibu went to Malaysia’s Parliament House to meet Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister sneaked out a back door to avoid embarrassing encounter. The Altantuya case has become a key element of the Malaysian political game between Najib Razak and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. So far Najib Razak has steered around the obstacles, but the murder of the young Mongolian remains a sword hanging over his head.
An obscured facet of the Altantuya case is the role of Armaris. In Oct. 2007 Malaysian deputy defense minister Zainal Abdidin Zin acknowledged in Parliament that Armaris had paid 114 million euros in “commission” to Baginda’s Perimekar. It was not a bribe, he maintained, but payment for “support and coordination services.” Was there corruption as in the Taiwanese frigates in which the French DCNS firm was also implicated? DCNS, a private company with public financing, has declined our request for a meeting. “Nobody can comment on this case,” was the curt reply of the DCNS press officer in Paris. A document that could prove a link between Altantuya and the French company is the guarantee letter written by Baginda so that his mistress could obtain a visa to enter the Schengen zone (of which France is a member-country). The French embassy could not refuse this favor to a man decorated with the Legion d’Honneur. But the role of Altantuya in the submarines negotiation is still unclear. Intelligence agencies find her background intriguing and the Russian FSB (ex-KGB) is following closely the case.
In Ulan Batur, Altantuya’s eldest son Mungunshagai, 12, is traumatized by his mother’s death. The youngest, Altanshagai, 5, is mentally handicapped and has not understood that he will never see her again. “He asks for her all the time, sitting in wait on his chair the whole day,” says Altantuya’s father Sharibu Setev. “Every evening, I bring him sweets and tell him that his mother gave it to me for him.” As for Baginda, he resettled in the United Kingdom with his family. He never uttered a word of regret about the deadly fate of the one who shared his life for two years.

Arms deal link to death of model (TimesOnline)

A FRENCH arms company is at the centre of a deepening scandal involving the sale of three submarines, the murder of a beautiful Mongolian interpreter and the man most likely to become prime minister of Malaysia next month.
All three have been linked in a sensational sequence of revelations that has convinced many Malaysians that the woman was killed to silence her demands of a share in the rewards of the transaction.
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
A glamorous, cosmopolitan woman, Altantuya grew up in St Petersburg, spoke Russian, Chinese, Korean and English, moved in elite circles and has been dubbed “a Far Eastern Mata Hari”.
She became the mistress of a Malaysian political fixer and was allegedly trying to extort money from him at the time of her violent demise.
Two members of an elite Malaysian police unit that protects top politicians are on trial in Kuala Lumpur, accused of shooting her in the jungle and then blowing up her body with military explosives.
Azilah Hadri, 32, and Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, officers in the Special Branch, could go to the gallows if convicted of abducting and murdering Altantuya on October 19, 2006. A verdict is expected early next month.
Their trial is unfolding as Najib Razak, the country’s deputy prime minister, stands on the verge of taking over as premier after a ruling-party leadership election, due within days.
Najib was accused by a young opposition MP, Gobind Singh Deo, in parliament, of involvement in the murder. Deo was suspended by the Speaker for making the remark. The deputy prime minister has strongly denied any involvement.
Testimony in an earlier court case has established an intimate personal and financial connection between the dead woman and a close aide to Najib, who was minister of defence at the time of the submarine deal.
The aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted by a court last November of being an accessory in the murder. He has since been working on a doctorate at Trinity College, Oxford.
Baginda admitted that the dead woman was his mistress for about a year and prosecutors said she had pestered him for money after their break-up.
Just before her death she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a Mongolian shaman, who was to put a curse on Baginda if he did not pay up.
Altantuya was dragged away from outside Baginda’s home by two Special Branch officers, but he was acquitted after maintaining that he never gave orders for her to be harmed.
The Libération exposé linking the murder to the shadowy world of arms contracts has embarrassed the French war-ship firm DCNS. Armaris, a firm now merged with DCNS, sold the three submarines to Malaysia in 2002 for £937m.
Attention has centred on why Armaris paid £107m to a Malaysian company called Perimekar in 2006.
Opposition leaders alleged in parliament that the payment was a “commission” for intermediaries and that Perimekar was secretly owned by Baginda. Najib replied that it was not a “commission” and that Perimekar was a “project services provider”.
Libération has alleged that Altantuya, who toured France with Baginda in a Ferrari, wining and dining at expensive restaurants, learnt of the payment. It said she was demanding $500,000 (£345,000).
DCNS has refused to comment. It is already the subject of a French judicial investigation into corrupt practices, thanks to a whistleblower who has detailed bribery and industrial espionage allegations.
Last week, efforts to contact Baginda, a self-styled political analyst, at his new home in Oxford were unsuccessful.
Najib has avoided public comment but his politically influential wife, Rosmah Mansor, told the French news agency AFP that she was “shocked” by attempts to link her husband and her to the case.

Bekas MP calon PKR di Batang Ai

Bekas ahli parlimen Lubok Antu yang tidak asing lagi, Jawah Gerang menggalas cabaran PKR menentang BN dalam pilihanraya kecil DUN Batang Ai yang akan berlangsung 7 April ini.
Penasihat PKR Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, yang dalam lawatan ke kawasan itu semalam, mengumumkan nama Jawah di lapangan terbang Kuching sebelum berlepas ke Kuala Lumpur pagi ini.

Wanita KeAdilan di Batang Ai

Khairy dakwa diugut penulis buku

Naib Ketua Pemuda Umno Khairy Jamaluddin, hari ini membuat laporan polis terhadap penulis sebuah buku yang dikatakan mengugut dan memfitnah beliau.Khairy hadir di Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Brickfields pada jam 10.15 pagi bersama empat rakannya termasuk anggota perwakilan Umno bahagian Kota Melaka, Saiful Ridhuan.Beliau yang ditemui pemberita di perkarangan ibu pejabat polis itu selepas membuat laporan berkata beliau meminta polis menjalankan siasatan terhadap buku tulisan seorang penulis politik tanahair, lapor Bernama"Tujuan utama saya buat report (polis) ini adalah disebabkan kandungan buku ...yang ternyata memfitnah saya. Buku ini adalah sebenarnya satu usaha secara sengaja menjatuhkan imej dan karier politik saya," katanya selepas hampir dua jam membuat laporan itu. Khairy berkata beliau juga tidak pernah berjumpa penulis buku itu sebelum ini dan pertama kali mereka bertemu adalah di pejabatnya 17 Februari lepas."Beliau (penulis) datang ke pejabat saya di sini (Kuala Lumpur) 17 Februari lepas, berjumpa dengan saya dan mengugut saya agar membayar RM100,000 atau buku itu diterbitkan."Bagaimanapun saya enggan kerana saya tidak perlu bayar untuk buku tersebut dan saya tidak mampu untuk bayar," dakwa Khairy. Menurut Khairy lagi, penulis terbabit turut mendakwa bahawa penerbitan buku itu ditaja musuh-musuh politik beliau dalam Umno."Selain itu, saya juga mendapat tahu buku ini juga telah diedarkan kepada beberapa anggota perwakilan Umno sejak minggu lepas," katanya.

Penduduk pendalaman tidak dipinggir

LAWAS: Pelaksanaan beberapa projek mega daripada kerajaan pusat dan negeri di kawasan tanah tinggi Bario membuktikan kerajaan tidak pernah meminggirkan penduduk di kawasan itu.
Ahli Parlimen Lawas Dato Henry Sum Agong berkata kerajaan yang diterajui Barisan Nasional (BN) sejak sekian lama berjaya membekalkan kemudahan asas kepada penduduk di tanah tinggi Bario apabila beberapa kampung utama di Bario mendapat bekalan tenaga elektrik.
Selain tenaga elektrik, jelasnya kerajaan turut mempertimbangkan pembinaan jalan raya menghubungkan Bario dengan bandar yang meliputi laluan sejauh 400 kilometer (km).
“Kalau kita lihat pembinaan Jalan Lawas-Ba’kelalan yang meliputi laluan sejauh 100 km, memerlukan sejumlah RM1 bilion, inikan pula untuk membina jalan ke tanah tinggi Bario yang sememangnya me-merlukan kos lebih tinggi serta masa lebih panjang.
“Namun demikian kerajaan akan terus memberi pertim-bangan dan jika keadaan ekonomi telah pulih maka tidak mustahil semua keperluan ini akan dilaksanakan,” katanya ketika diminta mengulas mengenai laporan sebuah akhbar berbahasa Inggeris yang menyentuh mengenai pembangunan di Tanah Tinggi Bario.
Jelasnya, pada masa ini perjalanan ke Bario boleh dihubungkan melalui jalan pembalakan bagi meningkatkan sistem perhubungan kepada penduduksetempat.
“Ini merupakan satu perkem-bangan sementara dan kita berharap agar isu lama dapat difahami bersama kerana banyak faktor lain yang mempengaruhi keadaan tersebut termasuk kewangan yang tinggi untuk melaksanakan pelbagai pem-bangunan,”katanya.
Mengenai kerosakan tanaman dan ternakan penduduk di tanah tinggi Bario akibat hujan yang luar biasa, beliau memberitahu kerajaan melalui pelbagai agensi telah turun padang untuk menangani masalah tersebut.
Henry turut memberitahu bahawa kerajaan persekutuan telah memastikan bahawa dua projek mega di daerah Lawas akan dilaksanakan pada tahun ini. Ia termasuk pembinaan Hotel Seri Malaysia Lawas dan Pusat Latihan Islam Jakim, Lawas dalam memacu lebih banyak pembangunan di sini, jelasnya.
“Pembinaan hospital baru daerah Lawas telah dibawa kepada menteri bertanggungjawab dan beliau sendiri telah memberi komitmen untuk datang sendiri ke daerah ini bagi melihat masalah yang menyebabkan projek tersebut masih belum dilaksanakan sehingga kini,” katanya.

Fadillah kesal pembangkang cuba melaga-lagakan Melayu dan Dayak

LUBOK ANTU: Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Fadillah Yusof kesal dengan tindakan pihak pembangkang yang cuba melaga-lagakan orang Melayu dan Dayak demi kepentingan politik mereka.
Tindakan pihak pembangkang terbabit menurut beliau boleh dilihat apabila mereka sengaja mengutarakan isu yang menyatakan bahawa orang Melayu selama ini sering menekan kehidupan orang Dayak.
“Itu adalah dakyah semata-mata. Tujuan utama golongan terbabit ialah mahu orang Dayak berhenti menyokong Barisan Nasional (BN), seterusnya memberi sokongan kepada mereka(pembangkang).
“BN memberi pembangunan sama rata kepada rakyat berbilang kaum di negeri ini… jika pihak pembangkang mendakwa orang Melayu menindas orang Dayak maka itu adalah pembohongan semata-mata,” katanya sambil menambah pemimpin Melayu dan Dayak saling bekerjasama untuk memajukan negeri ini sejak dahulu lagi.
Fadillah yang juga Timbalan Menteri Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi berkata demikian ketika berucap merasmikan Majlis Warga Ceria anjuran Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas (JASA) di Gerai Tatai Kenyalang Majlis Daerah Lubok Antu semalam.
Selain itu pihak pembangkang terutama Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) sering mengganggu usaha pihak BN untuk melaksanakan pelbagai program pembangunan di negeri ini dengan menyebarkan pelbagai isu remeh-temeh di kalangan penduduk.
Selain cuba melaga-lagakan orang Melayu dan Dayak, pihak berkenaan tambah Fadillah telah sengaja mem- bantutkan usaha pening- katan taraf hidup penduduk dengan meracuni pemikiran penduduk menerusi sesuatu isu.
“Lagipun pihak BN cukup biasa dengan kerenah para penyokong PKR selama ini. Apabila mereka berasa tidak puas hati terhadap sesuatu isu mereka akan turun untuk berdemonstrasi.
“Mereka tidak sedar betapa perbuatan mereka itu hanya menunjukkan kelemahan politik kita sehingga menye-babkan pelabur asing tidak mahu datang ke sini,” katanya.
Justeru beliau berharap agar penduduk di kawasan Batang Ai tidak mudah terpedaya dengan dakyah yang cuba disampaikan oleh pihak pembangkang terhadap mereka lebih-lebih lagi ketika menjelang pilihan raya kecil DUN Batang Ai nanti.

Taib selar pembangkang

SERIAN: Ketua Menteri Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud semalam menyelar sikap pemimpin pembangkang yang hanya bijak bermain kata-kata untuk menghasut rakyat supaya membenci kerajaan.
Menurut Taib, isu penempatan semula sering dibangkitkan pihak pembangkang sebagai propaganda mereka menentang agenda pembangunan dirancang kerajaan untuk rakyat.
Taib menambah, kerajaan ti-dak pernah mengetepikan kebajikan rakyat yang dipindahkan malah memberi ganti rugi dan pampasan sewajarnya.
“Mereka (pembangkang) yang hanya pandai menghasut cuma mencari masalah. Sebenarnya, mereka tidak mempunyai pengalaman untuk memindahkan rakyat.
“Apa yang penting, banyak negara-negara membangun lain sukar menjalankan usaha penempatan seperti yang telah kita laksanakan dengan terperinci.
“Tetapi di Sarawak, kita dapat nampak ramai masyarakat telah dipindah dan mereka memberi maklum balas yang baik,” katanya ketika merasmikan Pesta Berimuh di Stadium Mini Serian, semalam.
Taib menarik perhatian, parti pembangkang yang memerintah di tiga negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia gagal memainkan peranan sebagai pemerintah.
Kata Taib, pelbagai janji-janji pembangunan telah mereka taburkan kepada rakyat tidak dipenuhi malah belum melaksanakan sebarang pembangunan untuk rakyat mereka.
“Ini terjadi kerana trend politik baru yang mereka amalkan… mereka fikir mereka adalah ahli politik yang bijak, mengalih pemikiran rakyat dan hanya memainkan isu sensitif sahaja.
“Jika perkara demikian berlaku, negara kita tidak akan membangun dengan mengamalkan trend politik sedemikian,” tambahnya.
Taib menambah, pemimpin politik di negeri ini menghormati parti pembangkang jika mereka berjaya menyumbang kepada kemajuan dan pembangunan daripada menghasut sahaja.
“Oleh sebab itu, orang yang tahu menghasut selalunya orang yang tidak dapat menyatupadukan malah memecah dan membawa kemunduran kepada kita,” tambahnya.

SNAP beri laluan kepada PKR

KUCHING: Dengan alasan enggan merosakkan peluang calon Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) untuk menang, Parti Kebangsaan Sarawak (SNAP) semalam meng-umumkan tidak akan ber-tanding dalam pilihan raya kecil Batang Ai.
Presidennya, Edwin Dundang Bugak berkata dengan keputusan itu mereka akan membantu PKR dalam usaha menjadikan kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) itu beralih tangan daripada Barisan Nasional (BN).
“Keputusan ini menunjukkan betapa serius kita bekerjasama dengan PKR kerana sebagai parti pembangkang kita berkongsi matlamat perjuangan yang sama.
“Meskipun Batang Ai satu ketika dahulu adalah milik SNAP, tetapi kita menyedari realiti politik sekarang,” katanya dalam sidang media selepas mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Eksekutif Pusat (CEC) di Ibu Pejabat SNAP di sini, semalam.
SNAP yang mempunyai kira-kira 60,000 ahli di seluruh Sarawak katanya, akan menyokong calon PKR.
“SNAP masih mempunyai pengikut di Lubok Antu dan dengan ini kita mahu mereka memberi sokongan kepada calon yang dipilih PKR,” katanya.
Meskipun calon PKR belum diumumkan, Edwin memberitahu calon daripada parti yang diketuai Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim itu pasti akan me-ngetengahkan individu ber-kaliber.
“Kita (SNAP) mempunyai calon yang sesuai tetapi PKR mempunyai calon yang lebih bagus,” katanya.
Beliau turut menafikan faktor kewangan merupakan penyebab SNAP tidak mempertaruhkan calon di Batang Ai.
Pilihan raya kecil Batang Ai diadakan berikutan kematian Datuk Dublin Unting Ingkot dari Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) pada 24 Februari lepas.
Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) menetapkan hari pe-namaan calon pada 29 Mac ini, disusuli pengundian pada 7 April depan.
Setelah mendapat kelulusan daripada Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi kelmarin, Malcolm Mussen Lamoh kini sah menjadi calon BN yang mungkin berhadapan dengan dua pencabar.
Selain PKR, seorang penerbit majalah Iban, Johnny Chuat, 38, menyuarakan hasrat untuk bertanding.
Jika benar, pilihan raya itu akan menyaksikan pertandingan tiga penjuru antara BN, PKR dan Bebas.
Anwar sebagai Penasihat PKR dijangka mengumumkan calon mereka di sini pada hari ini.
Ditanya mengenai kemungkinan semua ahli SNAP akan menyertai PKR, Edwin berkata ia belum difikirkan setakat ini.
“Tidak perlu buat masa sekarang kerana kita masih ada ahli dan penyokong yang masih sayangkan parti.
“Lagipun SNAP dan PKR berjuang ke arah mencapai mat-lamat yang sama,” katanya.
Mengenai Ibu Pejabat SNAP di Jalan Rubber, beliau ber-kata ia masih kekal seperti dahulu.
Wujud kekeliruan apabila logo dan nama parti yang sebelum ini terpampang di dinding berhampiran pintu masuk pejabat ditanggalkan.
Setiausaha Agung SNAP Stanley Jugol yang menjelaskan lebih lanjut perkara itu, berkata:
“Tahun lepas kita menyewa-kan tingkat bawah kepada sebuah syarikat dengan tujuan untuk mendapatkan sedikit wang,” katanya.