PI Bala’s widow Selvi has too much to lose

COMMENT As I watch the YouTube video once again, there is a lot more to the press conference organised by pro-Najib Abdul Razak NGO Pertubuhan Minda Sosial dan Prihatin (PMSP) than meets the eye.

As private investigator P Balasubramaniam’s widow A Santamil Selvi read out the carefully-worded public apology to Prime Minister Najib and his family, it is obvious that the statement was drafted by a third party.

Judging from her body language, and her glance at PMSP leader Ramesh Rao, she was apparently not very comfortable with the public apology that she had read out.

Just before the press conference concluded, she lifted up the pressure lid, and the truth was finally spilled for all to see - poor Selvi had appeared at the press conference just for the sake of her children’s education, amounting to RM20,000, which she claimed she could not get from PKR.

It is obvious that PKR is a political organisation and not a charitable organisation, which can fork out money to help any and every individual who needs help. To be given her monthly stipends is as good as it can go; this is something that Selvi failed to fully grasp.

In fact, Selvi’s lawyer (on a pro-bono basis) Americk Sidhu told me that “Selvi and the kids have been looked after extremely well, by a host of kind souls since her husband’s death.” As generous as Malaysians can be, these Good Samaritans could only help up to a certain extent, but as the widow of Bala, Selvi should not try to live off people’s generosity.

Therefore, her claims that certain PKR personalities had promised her money for her children’s education does not hold water.

A failed press conference

All the efforts put into organising the press conference went up in smoke with the sudden outburst of temper by both Selvi and Ramesh. With a little discernment, one can tell what had indeed transpired before the press conference.

When queried by ABC Four Corners reporter Linton Besser, Selvi just broke down. She was caught off-guard and suddenly her defence system gave way. We could see through what she was up to.

We know that although she was prepared to publicly apologise for implicating Rosmah Mansor for the death of her husband, what I am hearing from Selvi is that she was not prepared to drop the countersuit against Najib, because she knows everything that the late PI Bala had said in his first affidavit was true.

Most of us were, in fact, waiting to hear from her what she knows about the murder case, especially when the mysteries surrounding the murder of former Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu have yet to be answered. The case could have proceeded and she could have won it, but now, she has blown it!

The mystery still remains - who instructed the two operatives attached to Najib’s entourage to kill the Mongolian model? Why was Najib’s close associate Abdul Razak Baginda suddenly acquitted by the judge? Where is the former political analyst now, after so many years of going for his further education overseas? Why has he gone into obscurity?

Justice for Bala

Bala would have confided in his wife Selvi a lot of things that he himself knew (as shown by Bala’s first affidavit and the video interview prior to Bala’s sudden death).

As the widow, I can imagine that Selvi has gone through a lot, especially since the family had to be relocated elsewhere after the second affidavit was read out. Their disappearance raised a lot of questions of who in the corridors of power could have been involved in the murder of Altantuya.

While Bala can no longer speak, in my opinion Selvi should at least do some justice to her late husband by telling the full story on his behalf. This time, hopefully, she will do it out of a clear conscience and that she is not looking to be paid for making her public statements.

Besides her, my gut feeling is that Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was a former prime minister, would allegedly have privy information on the murder, which most of us ordinary people would never hear about.

Is this one of the reasons, besides the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, which has turned Dr Mahathir into Najib’s arch-nemesis?

While the ‘informants’ would not dare to make the privy information public, we hope that at least Dr Mahathir would tell us what he knows, and better still, if he produces it in court.

Meanwhile, Selvi has too much to lose if the countersuit does not proceed in court. As far as Americk is concerned, he has put his heart and soul into the case in order to see justice done, but since his pro-bono work all these years is unappreciated, he has the right to pursue his legal charges.

---

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. -Mkini