Najib's denial police involved in sex tape shows his desperation, says Pakatan

Pakatan Rakyat leaders scoffed at Prime Minister Najib Razak's denial that the police were not involved in the making of a sex tape that purportedly showed his arch rival Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim frolicking with a female prostitute.

"A denial from the PM can be expected. He also denied he ever met Altantuya Shaariibuu. Same for Saiful Bukhari Azlan. But later he had to U-turn and say yes, he did meet Saiful after all," MP for Subang Sivarasa Rasiah told Malaysia Chronicle.

He was referring to the complainant in the ongoing sodomy trial against Anwar. The Opposition Leader has denied the charges and blames Najib and wife Rosmah Mansor for plotting the conspiracy with Saiful to derail his political comeback.

Altantuya is the beautiful 28-year old Mongolian translator who was killed in Malaysia in 2006. Najib has been accused of having an sexual affair with her and a French newspaper La Liberation claims she was pregant and this could be why her body was blown up with C4 explosives to avoid any indentification in case of discovery. Two of Najib's former bodyguards have been sentenced to hang for her death but neither men knew her or had any motive to kill her.

Meanwhile, Sivarasa condemned Najib for the latest bid to smear Anwar and take the heat off Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and himself.

"We are convinced that this sex tape was motivated by quarters in the federal government and for the purpose of deflecting attention from Taib in the Sarawak state election," said Sivarasa.

The East Malaysian state has been buzzing with talk that the 74-year old Taib had outwitted Najib, who came to Kuching over the weekend with his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin.

It has been reported that Najib wanted the unpopular Taib to step down before the state polls are held, but does not have enough influence over the independent and powerful Sarawakian leader who has ruled his state since 1981.

"Our sources tell us that Najib had no choice but to accept Taib's vague promises to quit but only after the polls were held. Even so, he did not expect Taib to suddenly announce the dissolution of the state assembly at the airport just when he and Muhyiddin were departing. When they came back to KL, they had to accept the situation," said Sivarasa.

"Of course, BN has to try and damage control because Taib is carrying so much baggage. We were told they dusted out a plan that was being reserved for the General Elections - which is the sex tape to defame Anwar. It is to draw attention from Taib and also to sap Pakatan's energy. Instead of talking about Taib's corruption, his wealth and his family's abuse of power, BN wanted to make Anwar's sex life the major topic of conversation in Malaysia. That's why special operatives were used. But as usual, Umno doesn't do things well and in the end, I think it only exposed the desperation in Najib and BN."

If authentic, it would have been posted on You Tube like Soi Lek's

Indeed, it was odd that a mystery man who covered half his face could have enough pull to lure such a large batch of reporters and editors to attend the screening of the tape. It triggered a guessing game as to who he was, what he was up to, and who was behind him.

Calling himself Datuk T, the man held his special press briefing at the high-end Carcosa Negara Hotel, where he showed a 21-minute video clip. This modus operandi immediately sparked suspicion that the 'star' of the sex video was not Anwar.

If it was authentic, critics reasoned it would have been distributed publicly and even posted on You Tube just like MCA president Chua Soi Lek's DVD was in 2007.

Anwar has denied he was the man in the tape and pointed out a marked physical difference. The thin 63-year old has a much smaller tummy than the man in the tape.

"I was told the face in the video looked like me. However, the stomach of the man was much bigger than mine,” Anwar told a press conference on Monday evening.

Anwar, who is both Pakatan and PKR de-facto head, said he was at home with PKR staff, his wife, children, grandchildren and tweeting on that day and at that time. The sex video’s time stamp on Feb 21 was from 10.23pm to 10.45pm.

"Don’t drag the public and the country into this dirty politics. The media screening this morning was arranged with such care. The screening was also held for senior mainstream media editors first, guarded by the elite Special Branch," said Anwar.

No mention of action to be taken against Datuk T

Meanwhile, Najib said on Twitter that the police were not involved.

“I would like to confirm what Datuk Hishamuddin said that the police is not involved in the recording of the alleged sex video."

He was referring to Hishammuddin who is his cousin and Home Minister. Hisham had rushed to urge Datuk T to lodge a police report so that investigations could begin against the Opposition Leader.

Hisham did not mention that action would be taken against Datuk T although it is illegal to screen pornographic material in public. It was clear that both his and Najib's target was Anwar.

“We cannot take any action unless a police report is made. Whoever was involved must be brave and answer, whoever who feels victimised must make a police report,” Hisham told a press conference.

"What I can stress is that the police are not at all involved in the recording of the video."

The cousins

But few Malaysians are convinced by the words of the cousins.

The last time Najib publicly came to Hisham's support was in 2010 when Hisham insisted there was nothing in giving approval to Umno-linked NGOs to demonstrate against a controversial court ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the word Allah to describe God.

Hisham was lambasted by opposition politicians and many prominent citizens, who warned his action was tantamount to encouraging a religious frenzy and stoking further tension between the Muslim Malays and the non-Muslims. Najib defended him and allowed the protests to go on.

The demonstrations triggered a chain of vandalization and torching of churches that went on for nearly a fortnight, plunging Malaysia into international notoriety for racial and religious intolerance.

"Malaysia has been overrun by thugs and gutter politics now rules. People everywhere laugh at our federal government and say things like we have become the pornographic capital of the world. Najib himself has a fantastic number of sexual scandals tied to his name and the most popular of all the Malaysian sex stories is his Altantuya corruption and murder case, not the Chua Soi Lek DVD or even Anwar's sodomy trials," DAP MP for Taiping Nga Kor Ming told Malaysia Chronicle.

"And now instead of helping the Sarawak people free themselves of a despot, he is doing his best to make sure Taib survives. So those who think about social and economic justice can forget it. The Penan rapes will continue, the forest will be logged continuously until Sarawak is bald. Not only is Najib not going to help the Sarawakians, he is going all out to help Taib stay in power." - Malaysia Chronicle