..is almost complete.
Look at this picture. (borrowed without permission from The Star)
The High Court today sentenced the two Special Ops cops from Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) to hang for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu,The Star reports.
Does it surprise you? No? Same here. But this is a case that has shaken the nation. Even as the two cops are sentenced, there are many burning questions that remain unanswered.
Firstly, motive.
Azilah who started his testimony on Jan 15 stated that he had no motive to kill or destroy the woman and instead he only met Altantuya to advise her politely not to harass Abdul Razak or create a ruckus outside the latter’s home.
Azilah also told the court that he was ordered by a superior, DSP Musa Safri to help Abdul Razak and thus he would not have done something stupid like killing and what more when he was a policeman.
While defending himself Sirul Azhar broke down a few times and related to the court that he has been made the ‘sacrificial lamb’ in the murder. – The Star.
So, the prosecution used both the guys testimony to tie a noose long enough to hang them both. But what was the motive? This is not serial killing.
Certainly not a crime of passion. Because Altantuya’s entry records and the two cops’ travel records would help to preclude that they even knew the victim. Entry records erased, you say? Oops…but that’s another story.
I reiterate, why is the most obvious question not answered? Motive?
You can narrow it down to two things.
1) Following a direct order from a superior.
2) Money.
Where is the money? I’ve said this again and again. These two convicted killers probably was approached for a reason, and the reason was not their typing skills, that’s for sure.
The chain that’s supposed to link Azilah/Sirul to Altantuya has another link. Without this link, the whole case is questionable. Yet, in Malaysia it happens. Kudos to Bolehland.
What about the private investigator Bala who made two Satutory Declarations that contradicted each other, and then disappeared? The judge didn’t think there was anything here?
Another thing, you guys think these two cops are really gonna hang for their crimes? I’m skeptical.Why?
1) In Malaysia we don’t have public hangings, so we can’t witness it happen.
2) Does anyone know how these fellas looked like? Since they were arrested until today, they have turned up with their faces covered.
How’s this story. They are properly sentenced and all today. They await the hangman. Justice is seen to be done. Then months down the line, they are spirited from the prison, given new IDs and packed to some foreign soil, with some money for their trouble.
Come hanging day, they will just announce that so and so were hanged for their crime. They bodies buried in such and such place. Whose bodies? Your guess is as good as mine.
Too much spy novels, you say. You forget that art imitates life actually.
After all, a Mongolian national being shot twice by cops and then blown up with C4, a military grade explosive does sound like a something straight out of a spy thriller, don’t you think?
So, pardon my 10 cent-conspiracy-theory. That’s what most cynical, jaded, lie-weary Malaysians are thinking these days.
And why not? This is a country where the custodians of law, public order, governance, justice and freedom can be summed up as “Harapkan Pagar, Pagar Makan Padi”.
Our cops are bent, trigger happy murderers.
Our prosecutors are mostly evil puppets of the Attorney General, who in turn has been shown to be both inept and a puppet himself.
Our judges have mostly been castrated or they too are bent. The few who are principled, their days are numbered under One Malaysia, believe me.
Our media has been gagged too long that, their collective balls shrank and that fine thing called investigative reporting has died.
Our laws are meant to suppress the people.
And our only hope is through the ballot.
If we don’t change this, you and I have a good chance of becoming another Altantuya, Kugan, or the Kulim six.
PS. DSP Musa Safri….You can sleep easy tonight. And Razak Baginda, good luck at Oxford.
If Everything was Right, What is Left? 
Our police is just like the bumbling Inspector Gadget ( fictional character) and our prosecution is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde..Enough said…
If the two policemen have no gut (for a reason or reasons which they themselves or their lawyers only know) to disclose the evidences which do not implicate them but somebody(s) else, then they deserved to be hanged. They have been given ample opportunities to make their solid defences but they failed miserably at that. So, nice journey to hell for them.
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This is the same thought that has been going though my mind. It is very easy for the police force to substitute the bodies. We also know how easy it would be to get an unclaimed body from the hospital. We know how “honest” our Police Force and the Health Ministry are don’t we.
There is only one reason for them covering thir faces and I believe it is to facilitate the substitution by other unknown persons during the hanging.
Heyyyyyyyyy ! Did you forget the witness protection thinge the bald vulture was screeching about.Off they go to disneyland with the balkis girls and have a “feast” under the humpty dumpty wall next to alantuya cinderalla grave opposite the sheriff of saddam hassan whore house around the corner of jebbys pits and just above the hole in two maniacs final resting place
aiya cukup lah the direction, find your own way lah
Have a good day malaysia
scripted outcome lah … u wan justice? send PR to putrajaya.
my sentiments exactly! the only thing I can do is to calmly wait for the next GE in 2012/13. FOr those who have not registered, register asap. You never know.
Foreign investors be very aware there is really no rule of law in Malaysia, decisions made are at the whim and fancy of the one in power, it seems strange that the presiding judge does not know what the two defendants the killers of Altantuya look like and have not ordered them to reveal themselves even in court, all Malaysian citizens be aware that two of you might be kidnapped to take the place of these two goons who will likely be paid a whopping sum of money to relocate in some faraway place and also to keep their mouth shut and money will be tax payer’s money, what they can do is go for plastic surgery and to change their appearance. These UMNO putra politicians are corrupted to the core and have no sense of dignity and integrity. Najib and Baginda Razak will pay dearly for these misdeeds in the months and years to come
. Where is the motive for these two policemen? That the court deemed unecessary to pursue the path of justice makes us lose hope in the barisan government !!!! Hope GOD will strike those guilty of the crime becos law abiding malaysians cannot win against the machinery of BN and the crooked system!! This makes this country a pariah nation . I am ashamed to be a malaysian today !
They deserved to be hanged! as simple as that. Why hiding? No need appealing. When they can make it straight be the whole truth nothing but the truth!
who ever behind this case should be blown as they did to Altantuya…these 2 policeman maybe a part of it but we couldn’t blame the whole police department for what this 2 men did.. as policeman /women, they just follow an order from high rank officer..
They’ll is a victim..the true criminal is our new PM, Najib Razak..i suggest, all of us (lawyers) to do a petition for International Court review..
We all study what is a democracy and justice..so,this is we call democracy??this is a justice??
These two are sacrificial lambs for the moment to cool things down.
They will go through a pre-planned route to appeal and appeal until maybe 10 years. The appeal route will allow things to subside and people will forget by then.
Then all of a sudden the defence will find a loophole in the prosecution case. Hey presto, they will be cleared.
Alternative route will be that the case will be allowed to prolong and then a stay of execution and finally a royal pardon.
In this case everyone is cleared.
A good article…
A True Malaysian…
This is one weird case. A bolehland spectacular and will be remembered forever.
Since time immemorial, an innocently accused perosn facing capital punishment would want people to look at his face and say stuff like:
“Hey, I saw that man at the bar during the murders. He definitely was dancing in his underwear on the table during the time of the murder. He couldn’t be at two places at the same time ” or they could be placated by someone, anyone really, who happened to be near the murder scene: “Hey, this was definitely NOT the guy we saw driving the jeep carrying altantuya”
Wouldn’t you want someone to help you out that way? There is always the off chance that someone that you have never known before or met before, to come before the court to say that you are not the killer. As an accused, you want all the help you can get. But strangely not in this case. Why?
From their actions, we know for sure they did the dastardly deed. It was not greed, but for Razak Baginda’s seed.
Of course although found guilty and to be hanged, ultimately perhaps on appeal they may be spared the hangman’s noose. Why? Under what motive did they killed Altantuya?
this is a movie drama material………hope yusuf haslam can cash in on it and make a mega block buster for the world to see……..in 60 different languages as well……………
the plot is simple…… case closed and dismissed…… dead man tell no tales only who died?
hanging not a problem lots of unclaimed bodies…….
I am thinking what you are thinking! Two can’t be wrong, right?
If Altantuya’s entry records can be deleted, this would be easy-peasy for them!
Nah, we ain’t going to change anything through elections. We’ll just elect more idiots from an opposing party to siphon off more money and divide society further.
There’s only really one thing that sucks in Malaysia – The Public. The Public consists of unenlightened, greedy and sensitive morons who really do not care about each other or themselves. I don’t blame Najib or Razak Baginda for this Altantuya mess. I blame the Rakyat for letting irrational fear dictate their actions; making them waste their money for the purchase of an irrelevant piece of crap submarine. We can’t even solve poverty and crime in this country and we want a submarine?! The people of this country make me wanna puke! The conceit is sickening!
I root for more flash floods, soil erosion and landslides that wipe off a couple of thousand Malaysians each time because that’s the only real CHANGE that can come to this nation.
if you’re interested in a personal story about vaccines and the government check out http://bennymay.wordpress.com/
wierd case lah
Anyone who acknowledges & accepts Rosmah & Najib’s premiership can be said (at least on a moral if not legal level) to be an accessory to the grisly murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu. In November 2006, I was watching to see if Abdullah Badawi was man enough to order his deputy to take temporary leave while police investigations were going on. Later I learnt from an insider that Badawi was among the first to get a big fat share of the RM538 mil submarine “commission.” That was his price for complicity in cold-blooded murder & damnation. Bye bye, Umno. Altantuya awaits you on the other side…
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To be a citizen of a nation running my crooks and cowards is totally outrageous and appalling.
If “they” could cover up such horrendous crime, I suggest to all the citizens to move on and say no more or you would end up as losers.
The consolation is : 纸是包不住火旳 , paper cannot wrap a fire. This universe is fair.
I hate this country so much.
is man rational ?
Hey, good job on your successful blog! I just recently started mine on wordpress so hopefully you’ll be able to check it out soon. Also, I’m from Chicago which also deals with a corrupt police force and corrupt city in general so it’s horrible to hear other stories like this.
http://chicagoismynewblog.wordpress.com/
This is a report from Arnaud Dubus, a French reporter based in
Thailand, which is published in Liberation French newspaper, 5th of
March 2009. The English version is as following:
Shaaribuu Setev is a bitter and disappointed man. Yet behind the
saddened face of this Mongolian lies a fierce determination. Seated in
a sofa in the lobby of an Ulaan Baataar hotel rattled by gushes of a
freezing wind, this sixty years old man is ready to fight. His face
features, hardened by the suffering and the stern climate, and his
intense gaze tell all. “My daughter has been murdered by Malaysians on
Malaysian territory. And they did not have even offer a word of
apology,” states this professor of psychology at the National
University of Mongolia.
The assassination of his daughter, Altantuya Shaaribuu, took place in
October 2006. This was a murder unlike others in a region where
business conflicts or petty politics are often settled with a gun.
Everything in this case, which started in 2002 when the French Spanish
company Armaris concluded the sale of three submarines to the
Malaysian government for the amount of one billion Euros, is out of
the ordinary.
The impact of the “Altantuya case” in France, Malaysia and Mongolia
has yet to reach its climax. The murder of the 28 year old Mongolian
was the result of a “commission” at the price of 114 million Euros by
Armaris to its Malaysian counterpart. This “commission,” which was
acknowledged by the Malaysian government in front of the Parliament in
Kuala Lumpur, has triggered a chain of events that has led to the
assassination of Altantuya and the disappearance of several key
witnesses in the case.
A report from the Malaysian police, written on 19th november 2006 and
which has been kept secret until now, reveals dry and precise
descriptions as to how this young woman, a member of Asian high
society, has been killed. In this document, one of the killers, a
policeman of the Malaysian Special Branch named Sirul Omar, replied to
the questions of an officer at a police station close to the murder
scene. “When the Chinese woman saw that I was taking a gun, she begged
me to spare her, saying she was pregnant. Azilah (the commanding
officer of Sirul) grabbed her and [threw] her on the ground. I
immediately shot the left side of her face. Then Azilah took off her
clothes and put them in a black plastic bag. Azilah noticed that her
hand was still moving. He ordered me to shoot again, which I did”,
said Sirul. This is the first confirmation of Altantuya’s assassins’
identity. “Then we carried her body into the woods. Azilah wrapped the
explosives around her legs, her abdomen and her head, and we exploded
her.”
The revelation of this report in the French newspaper Liberation is
the latest chapter in this colorful and dramatic saga featuring French
weapon sellers, Mongolian Shaman, and Malaysian politicians. This case
is explosive not only for the Malaysian government, since the deputy
Prime minister Najib Razak (who is scheduled to become Prime minister
at the end of March) is suspected of having links to the case, but
also because it could embarrass the DCNS, this French company
specialising in military shipbuilding. The French Spanish company
Armaris, which sold two Scorpène and one Agosta submarines to Malaysia
in June 2002, was bought by DCNS in 2007.
With her magnetic beauty and sophistication, Altantuya is reminiscent
of the troubling image of a Far East Mata Hari. She grew up in Saint
Petersburg (Russia), then studied at the Institute of Economic
Management in Beijing. Besides speaking English, she is fluent in
Russian, Chinese and Korean. The fateful cycle for Altantuya came into
gear when she met Abdul Razak Baginda in Hong Kong in 2004. Baginda is
a security expert and the director of the Malaysian Strategic Research
Centre, a pro-government think tank. The two quickly became
romantically involved. Altantuya, nicknamed Tuya by her friends,
proved to be a useful assistant, helping Baginda translate from
Russian to English.
Whereas Altantuya is young and beautiful, the rich and alluring
Baginda is a well known figure of the Kuala Lumpur’s elite, notably
because of his proximity to the Malaysian Deputy Prime minister and
minister of Defense Najib Razak (he is also his security affairs
adviser). Baginda parades in the most exclusive circles of Kuala
Lumpur, sometimes accompanied by his legitimate wife.
In March 2005, Altantuya and Baginda departed for Europe, touring
France, Germany, Italy and Portugal in the red Ferrari of Baginda,
staying in posh hotels and dining in the finest restaurants of the old
Continent. This trip, however, was not only for tourism: the contract
for the sale of the submarines had been signed in 2002, but important
details had yet to be settled. “We knew that Baginda was used by
Deputy Prime minister Najib Razak as an intermediary for weapons
systems deals, especially the high level ones,” says a regional
security affairs expert.
At the end of March 2005 the couple was in Paris, where they met with
Najib Razak. A picture shows the threesome in a Parisian private club.
“Tuya showed me the pix. She said that one of the men was her
boyfriend, Abdul Razak Baginda, and the other the “big boss”, Najib
Razak. I asked her if they were brothers because of the names, but she
said no, and that Najib Razak was the ‘prime minister’”, said Amy,
Altantuya’s best friend (Najib Razak has sworn on the Koran that he
has never met Altantuya). According to a private detective, now in
hiding in India, the beautiful Tuya was also the occasional mistress
of the deputy Prime minister, who was introduced to her by Baginda at
the end of 2004.
The story became dramatic when, in October 2006, Altantuya was
informed that the commission paid by the French-Spanish company
Armaris had arrived on a Kuala Lumpur bank account. It had been paid
to Perimekar, a company owned by Baginda. Altantuya rushed to Kuala
Lumpur, in order to claim her share of the commission from Baginda ;
she said she was entitled to 500,000 dollars. Baginda and Altantuya
broke up prior to this. A jealous Rosmah Mansor, the feared
businesswoman and wife of Najib Razak, objected any payment to
Altantuya. Altantuya arrived in Kuala Lumpur with two other Mongolian
women, one of them was a Shaman responsible for putting a spell on
Baginda if he refused to pay. For several days, Altantuya harassed her
ex-lover.
On the 18th of October, Baginda could no longer tolerate the daily
scenes made by Altantuya in front of his house. He contacted the
Director of the Special Branch, Musa Safrie, who happened to also be
Najib Razak’s aide de camp. On October 19th, 2006, a little before 9
pm, two police officers of the Special Branch, Azilah Hadridan and
Sirul Omar, were sent in front of Baginda’s house where Altantuya was
gesticulating and shouting. They had the order of “neutralizing the
Chinese woman.” They kidnapped her, and drove her ten kilometers away
and shot her several times. Then, they destroyed her body with C 4
explosives, a type which can only be obtained from within the Defense
Ministry. Her entry into Malaysia was erased from the immigration
records. It would appear that Altantuya had never come to Malaysia,
because there is no trace left of her.
There is no perfect crime. The taxi driver hired by Altantuya for the
day did not appreciate that his passenger was kidnapped under his eyes
without payment for the fare. He took note of the registration plate
of the kidnapper’s car and filed a complaint at the local police
station. In a few days, the police identified the car and realized
that it was a government vehicle.
Events unfolded that even the Deputy Prime minister Najib Razak could
not impede. He tried to cover the case. A few hours before the arrest
of Baginda, he sent him a SMS : “I will see the Inspector General of
Police at 11 am today… The problem will be solved. Be cool”. A few
hours after, Baginda was arrested as well as the two police officers
of the Special Branch, Azilah and Sirul.
After a trial considered dubious by many observers, Baginda was
acquitted with the accusation of having ordered the murder and
released in November 2008. Accused of having perpetrated the murder,
Azilah and Sirul appeared in front of the Court last month. If
convicted, their sentence is death. The verdict is scheduled for the
9th of April.
Thousands of miles from there, in the Mongolian capital city Ulaan
Baataar, Shaaribuu Setev, Altantuya’s father, is trying to control his
anger. To him and his family, the acquittal and release of Baginda is
symbolic of the unfairness of the Malaysian judicial process: “The
Malaysian government is not even answering to the letters from the
Mongolian Foreign Affairs Ministry,” he says.
When Shaaribuu came to the Malaysian parliament to meet Najib Razak,
the Deputy Prime minister had to escape through a back door in order
to avoid an embarrassing encounter. The Altantuya case has become a
key element of the Malaysian political game between Najib Razak (who
is expected to become Prime Minister after the United Malay Nation
Organisation (UMNO) Congress in March) and the opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim. So far, Najib Razak has navigated around the obstacles, but
the murder of the young Mongolian remains a sword suspended over his
head.
One of the most obscure aspects of the Altantuya case is the role of
the Armaris company. In October 2007, the Malaysian Deputy Defense
minister, Zainal Abdidin Zin, acknowledged in front of the Parliament
that Armaris had effectively paid 114 million Euros in commission to
Perimekar. He maintained that it was not a bribe, but a payment for
“support and coordination services.”
Was there corruption as in the case of the Taiwanese frigates in which
the French DCNS 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 sober reply of the DCNS Press relations
officer in Paris. A document, which could establish a link between
Altantuya and the French company is the guarantee letter written by
Abdul Razak Baginda so that his mistress could obtain a visa to enter
the Schengen zone (of whom France is a member country). The French
embassy could not refuse this service to a man decorated with the
Legion d’Honneur. But the role of Altantuya in the submarines
negotiations is still not clear. Intelligence agencies find her
background intriguing and the Russian FSB (ex-KGB) is following
closely the case.
In Ulaan Baataar, Mungunshagai, the eldest son of Altantuya, who is 12
years old, is traumatized by the death of his mother. Altanshagai, the
youngest, who is five years old and mentally handicapped, has not
understood that he will never see again his mother. “He is asking for
her all the time and is staying the whole day prostrated on his chair.
Every evening, I bring him sweets and I tell him that his mother gave
it to me for him”, says Shaaribuu Setev, the grandfather of the two
boys. As for Baginda, he settled down in the United Kingdom with his
family. He never uttered a word of regret on the deadly fate of the
one who shared his life for two years.
Arnaud Dubus (in Kuala Lumpur, Ulaan Baataar and Paris)
Altantuya Shaaribuu was killed because she knew too much about the distribution of the 114 millions Euros commission.
Payment of this commission to Perimekar was legal because it was just like you would pay to a salesman but kickbacks of this commission to various people was criminal.
The motive of the crime was plain simple – she threatened to expose all corrupted transactions of the commision.
In my opinion, The Shah Alam High Court is as guilty as hell.
In m opinion, I believe she was killed not because “she threatened to expose all corrupted transactions”, but she was just too greedy on top of being just as corrupt (if not more) than the rest who were involved.
Dear Mongolian,
I am amazed as why you are not supporting your own kind. Who is not greedy for more money? She was just human. The mother-fker Abdul Razak promised to give her the money. They must have lured her to collect it and then murdered her.
She was someone daughter and someone mother and she did not deserve a death sentence.
Please be more empathetic
Malaysia.. What a weird country..