Murder In Bolehland

In a sensational case that has gripped the country, the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, also known by name Anna Ana Ang or Aminah, a 28-year-old mother of two, presumably worked as a professional translator who is fluent in French, Russian,n English, she was abducted by three police officers from outside the home of Abdul Razak Baginda on October 19, 2006 in broad daylight after arrived at Malaysia on Oct 6. She was allegedly shot twice in the head, and her remains which were blasted to pieces with military grade C4 explosives in an attempt to obliterate all traces of her body were found in a forest at Shah Alam, south of Kuala Lumpur. She was identified by DNA taken from bone fragments, (388 pieces of bone fragments and few body tissues and hair collected at the crime scene.)

The victim's father, Setev Shaariibuu, traveled from Mongolia to Malaysia to seek justice for his daughter. "This is an international case, this is a brutal murder," he told reporters after Abdul Razak was released on bail bond without guarantee by high court.

“It was all talking about releasing him, all about his family and his background," A grieving father said through an interpreter, after sitting through the hearing in court, "If it continues this way, it is not about the brutal murder case. It's talking about somebody's reputation. I hope justice will be served."

The two officers, special task force Chief Inspector and Corporal, are charged with murder, and a Muslim political analyst with abetting the murder.

The trial of political analyst Abdul Razak 47, whose close ties to the deputy prime minister/defense minister have made the case a test for the nation's judicial and political integrity, where strictly follow rules in murder case involving top personages, the integrity of the prosecution in ferreting out " the whole truth" and the independence of judges to mete out justice is highly questionable, with former deputy prime minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim corruption and sodomy trial and Mr Lim Guan Eng indefinitely detention by authority while seeking justice for rape victim in Malacca involve high ranking governmnet official.

Special Action Force or SAF is an elite police force used to guard VIPs and other government dignitaries. Two of the murder defendants and a third female officer involved are bodyguards assigned to the deputy prime minister. Abdul Razak is an executive director of the Malaysia Strategic Research Institute, technically a government propaganda machine which claimed to be a private think-tank but has close connections to the Malaysian armed forces and the United Malays National Organization, the largest party in the ruling coalition.

Several “bizarre twist”in the case has happened; the trial judge, the prosecution team and at least one defense lawyer were all replaced even before hearings began.The hearing was scheduled to start on June 4,2007 but was postponed after the attorney-general replaced the criminal prosecutor abruptly, with head of the civil division from attorney general office. When the victim's family petitioned for Mohd Zaki Md Yasin, the presiding and replaced judge, to remove himself from the case over family ties with Hazman Ahmad, lead counsel for one of the co-defendants, but the judge dismissed the petition; vowing to maintain impartiality and neutrality, citing the relationship has no bearing on the trial, also with defense lawyers for the three accused kept changing with one walking out on the first day of hearing, charging that "third parties" were interfering in his work.

According to court affidavit, Abu Razak acknowledged he has an affair with the murder victim but denied any part in her murder.The driver of the taxi she took to Abdul Razak's house witnessed the abduction, and Altantuya also managed to send a mobile phone text message to a relative saying she was being taken away.

The postponed trial finally opened in march 2008, few days into the hearing, a bombshell revelation by a prosecution witness by the name of Amy (victim cousin) that the victim had shown her a photograph of herself, Abdul Razak, DPM and "others" having lunch in a Paris restaurant was not allow to testify further by the defense lawyer and prosecution, nor did the judge ask the witness to produce the photograph, after she mentioned the name of the DPM in court. Another Witness testimony of all records of the victim and companion entry and presence in Malaysia were erased from the computers of the Immigration Department came to an abrupt ending in court. Day later, the justice postponed the trial further to March 17^th, 2008 with the excuse it is in anticipation of coming 12^th election on March 8^th.

The entire conduct of the prosecution (was) not meant to seek and find the truth, to catch the culprits who perpetrated the crime, but at all stages, to protect powerful individuals from being implicated in any way," said opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"The many twists and turns in the case have raised doubts about the integrity of the prosecution and independence of the judge, it is sickening, it is pathetic, to say the least." according to him.

Speculations that the murder could be connected to a fall out over commissions in connection with the billion-dollar purchase of two Scorpion submarines deal with no competitive tenders that defense minister had negotiated with France in 2002.Total contract RM$4.5 billion, of which RM$ 540 million were paid out in commissions and among the recipients was a company owned by Baginda.

Questions have been raised about the alleged involvement of special police taskforce and whether the apparent use of C4 explosives points to an abuse of Defense Ministry power. A member of parliament asks the questions this month.

"Why was victim’s body exploded? Was she pregnant? Are the police afraid to investigate because it involved a highly placed minister? Who authorized the release of military highly guarded explosive material used in the murder? Is the explosive necessary to destroy the DNA traces of pregnancy of victim, so that the biological father can not be known? Why the third officer was not charged even with abetting the murder? Why A.G office replaced the criminal prosecutor team with civil division head abruptly, is this paving a way for defense to have a weak case or simply succumbed to pressure from higher up authority? Who ordered she and her companion file erased in immigration department data base? Why prosecution stopped witness further testimonial after she mentioned about the name of DPM and the photo? Why defendant of a murder case allowed to release on non bail able offense, where former DPM charged with sodomy is not allowed to?” All these seemingly simple and unimportant but yet perfectly legitimate questions that can provide crucial links to the "whole truth" have either being ignored, suppressed or remain unanswered in the course of investigation and during the court hearing, despite the fact that 40 police officers are assigned to investigate the case by government after request is made by Mongolian consulate.

As UMNO goes, so goes Malaysian politics. Despite its endemic corruption and the pervasive sense of rot at the top, it appears highly unlikely that any outside political force could even dent it , let alone the whole truth of the murder can be unfold under Malaysia’s not independent judiciary branch. Witnessing the laughable saga of the judiciary misconduct of fixing appointees in Lingam tape, executive pandering of judicial position and interfering of judicial process is real, it will be very difficult if not impossible for this mongolian grieving father to see justice serve in his daughter murder even with the promised of transparency by the P.M.