'BETRAYAL' - IGP MUST COME CLEAN: Was Sirul ordered to kill Altantuya by a senior cop?

The brutal killing of one Mongolian model and two men’s fate now being sealed by the country’s highest court will not be the end of the Altantuya Shariibuu’s case.

Just as the Mahsuri legend, this one involving a lover of former TV broadcast journalist, Abdul Razak Baginda will be the topic for ordinary men on the streets for many years to come, especially when the topic is brought up.

It will not reflect well on the ruling party, especially when the name of the Prime Minister is also dragged in, because of his links either directly or indirectly to the characters involved in the murder case.

With the recent visit by PAS party leaders to Piah Samat, it raises more questions when the 74-year-old mother of Sirul Azhar expressed her suspicion that her son was “betrayed”. She claimed Sirul was only doing his “duty as a police personnel”.

After all, despite the case going through three tiers of our judiciary system, the motive behind Altantuya’s murder remains a mystery.

As pointed out by Piah, does that mean our boys in blue, especially the special unit known as Operasi Tindak Khas (OTK) will have to follow the instruction of their senior officer, without questioning. When the job is executed, they face the consequences of their actions, with, the noose now awaiting for Sirul.

Unless it was a case of revenge on the former model, it is now on almost anyone’s mind why the duo was involved in the murder in the first place. Both were personal bodyguards to a Very Important Person.

Both also reported to a same officer with the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) within the police force. With such powerful explosives used on one person, it must strike a big question: Why? Why was C4 used on a young innocent girl? If robbery had been the motive, why should her body be blown up with such a powerful explosive?

Musa Safri, Azilah Hadri, Sirul Azhar

Based on the facts revealed in court, Altantuya was not even a terrorist and was definitely not a threat to national security. Unless of course, we are saying that within our police force, we have some who are willing to carry out killing in the same manner as the terrorists.

This is what we know is not the case unless as the Zahid Hamidi – Paul Phua’s saga reveals, some prominent members of the underworld with criminal records may have infiltrated our national security, without even the police being aware of it. At this juncture, only Zahid is in the know, as this so-called involvement by Phua is what Zahid has labelled as “Top Secret.”

Nothing done in the dark will not be revealed. Eventually, things will come out in the light, and the people who are in the know, but decide to collaborate with the guilty parties, may also end up being blamed.

As the top cop, the Inspector-General of Police has to come on clean, especially since all three in question are his men. He cannot remain silent, when two of his men are facing the prospects of being hanged, and on everyone’s mind, the truth of the matter has not been established yet.

The Missing W

While we know the answers to most of the 5W’s and one H, the motive of the murder has yet to be established by the courts throughout the course of the court case.

We know who were involved in the murder – two police operatives, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar, who were the personal bodyguards to the then Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

We also know what, when and where it happened. The facts are all over in the public domain.

We also know how it happened. C4 explosives were used to blow up the body to ensure that her body could not be traced. Despite all efforts to conceal the case, the skeletons in the closet were finally exposed and became the focus of both local observers and the international community.

C4 explosives are only used by the military, and would have been kept under high security surveillance in the same manner our country’s politicians kept certain information from the public as “Top Secret”. If I understand correctly, the police normally would not have any access to the C4 explosives.

However, where most people are concerned, the motive WHY Altantuya was murdered has never been established despite the case going before the highest court in the country.

This has been the burning question on everyone’s mind from the time that the trial began. This question will continue to fire the imagination of many Malaysians, despite the Federal Court saying that deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Musa Safri being called as a witness, as inconsequential.

Musa, as far as we know, was Najib's former aide de camp, and both Azilah and Sirul were operatives under Musa’s command. Naturally, the public would want to know whether Musa was involved in giving any instruction to Azilah and Sirul. If yes, why?

As it is now, there is still no explanation why the two operatives who have hardly anything to do with Altantuya would blow up the Mongolian model.

Even if Malaysians will forget about this case temporarily, the family of the victim would still be asking the same questions many years down the road.

Therefore, by merely saying that the court is satisfied with Najib’s confidante, Abdul Razak Baginda’s affidavit, without calling for Musa, would definitely raise some eyebrows with members of the public who are following the case closely.

The Malaysian public, as much as the family of Altantuya, would like to know if justice is being served. Death sentences meted against Sirul and Adzila would not end the story.

Therefore, Musa’s appearance as a witness during the trial would have settled the ever burning questions, why the Mongolian model was murdered in the first place.

It is understandable that the father of the victim, Setev Shaariibuu is still asking, “Why was my daughter killed?” At the very least, I would have expected the apex court to have dealt with this question, and satisfy all parties, to call for Musa to stand as a witness.

The five-member bench of the Federal Court was headed by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria merely said it could not see how much more details Musa could have provided to Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar's defence.

It is not enough what the learned judges saw as appropriate, but unless the questions on people’s minds are dealt with, it will only lead to more speculations. This is what we should not allow to fester.

Whether you like it or not, the 88-page judgement released by Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar, would be scrutinised by the legal professionals in other countries. It will also be studied again by members of the legal fraternity from a future generation.

As someone pointed out, in any criminal investigation, the motive behind the murder has to be established and presented in court.

However, we are deprived of the answer to this all-important question: Why was Altantuya murdered? What motive did these two operatives have when they used the C4 explosive to blast the victim?

We are asking, and the world is still asking the same questions. Do we not deserve to know the answers? - MAILBAG