Now the mandatory death penalty has been abolished, its time to bring Sirul home to establish the truth
Justice must be upheld in the Altantuya murder
Updated with Focus Malaysia version
Editor’s note: The family of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu is appealing for higher compensation than the RM5 mil awarded to them by the Shah Alam High Court in a suit they filed over her death in 2006.
In the notice of appeal filed on Jan 16 this year, Altantuya’s family is cross-appealing against part of the High Court’s decision on the quantum of damages.
Recall that on Dec 16 last year, High Court Judge Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera (now Court of Appeal judge) allowed the suit by Altantuya’s family and ordered former policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, and the Malaysian Government to jointly pay RM5 mil in general, aggravated and exemplary damages to the family.
Altantuya’s parents Dr Shaariibuu and Altantsetseg Sanjaa as well as his grandson Mungunshagai Bayarjargal had on June 4, 2007 filed a RM100 mil suit against Azilah, Sirul, Abdul Razak and the Malaysian Government.
In their statement of claim, Altantuya’s family said the model’s death resulted in them suffering mental shock and psychological trauma and sought compensation as well as exemplary and aggravated damages.
The systematic cold-blooded murder of Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu that occurred back in 2006 has many unanswered questions. There are still many mysteries about the murder, where military grade C4 was used to blow up the body. Justice has still not been done.
Two special action unit police officers Sirul Azhar and Azilah Hadi have been convicted and sentence to death for the murder of Altantuya, although no motive was established. We are no wiser as to who ordered her death, and precisely why.
It even appears authorities don’t want the public to know.
After an acquittal on appeal, Sirul managed to travel to Australia. However, he was imprisoned at Sydney’s Villawood Immigration detention centre, when his visa expired. He couldn’t be deported back to Malaysia because there was a death sentence involved, where Australian policy won’t allow the deportation of a person if their life is at risk.
Sirul has been imprisoned now for 8 years. According to the Asia Sentinel back in 2015, “He is in the hands of lawyers from the United Malays National Organization, who apparently have told him to shut up. One is Hasnal Rezua Merican, an UMNO Youth division leader, and the other is Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, a former deputy prosecutor who represented Sirul during his original trial and who, when he received his datukship, was described as “of UMNO headquarters.” Sirul, having spent the better part of the past eight years in jail, is presumably destitute, or close to it. That raises the question whether UMNO is paying for his legal fees, and raises a further question why the country’s biggest political party, and the leading party in the government, is paying the bills for a fugitive and convicted murderer. Sirul’s son is also being cared for in Australia by unknown sources.”
It appears there has been some collaboration between some shady Malaysian figures and Australian authorities to keep Sirul from speaking publicly.
Sirul denies killing Altantuya, claiming he was acting on orders from a superior. He claims his mission was only to drive Altantuya to the murder site, where there was a third person who actually pulled the trigger. In the 2015 Al-Jazeera documentary “Murder in Malaysia”, it was suggested there was a third person at the scene.
In 2015, Azlah wrote a statutory declaration stating that it was Najib Razak who gave the order to kill Altantuya. It was claimed she was a spy and a threat to national security.
Malaysia needs justice in this murder to prevail. There are many unanswered questions. The only way to really know is to get Azilah and Sirul back in court to testify about what really happened.
Sirul Azhar
Now that the mandatory death sentence has been abolished in Malaysia, representations can be made to Australian authorities to arrange the return of Sirul through the extradition processes. The attorney general can propose a deal for Azilah and Sirul so they can turn state witnesses.
Its time to get to the facts of this case, so the mysteries and secrecy around the issue can be dispelled once and for all.
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The mystery of Sirul's entry into Australia, a nation whose borders are tightly guarded, remains a pandora's box. It is not something that's easily resolved by the man returning to Malaysia's shores to blurt out the truth.
Sirul holds secrets the Australian government and the Americans both of who played a part in the undermining of the Malay dominated government and jailing of former Prime Minister DS Najib, do not want answered.
There could very well be a "Jack Ruby" waiting in the wings to finish Sirul off before he tells his side of the story. Bringing Sirul back to Malaysia is not something Sirul wants. It is not something many in Malaysia's ruling circles and the NGO's desire either.
Altantuya was a prostitute, a call girl who sought to make her fortune in Malaysia by climbing the social ladder in the beds of the rich and famous. She got caught up in a web of intrigue and arms deals not of her making, but a web nonetheless that ended her life with a bullet through her left temple.
The mandatory death sentence may have been abolished in Malaysia. But the death sentence remains. This is the quality of understanding of the law by lawyers and academics alike in Malaysia. They never read the fine print because they don't think. They follow the crowd as most followers of NGO politics do everywhere. They are the Woke, the dumb and the mainly young, all Malaysian mainly non Malays.
Sirul will not return to Malaysia of his own volition. He can't be forced out of Australia against his will. He has been kept incommunicado at a secret location in Australia by the government of Australia for good reason.
There is more to the killing of Altantuya than meets the eye. The myth of DS Najib and his wife being present at the site of Altantuya's murder and being witnessing her beg for her life and the life of her "unborn child" inspite of that myth being demolished.
Inspite of testimony given by Sirul himself and the forensic scientific evidence contradicting the myths surrounding the killing of Altantuya, it is still believed by many in Malaysia.
Altantuya is a distraction from a deeper set of issues involving big power politics and control for the Malayan peninsula and beyond.
No one in Malaysia really wants the truth behind the events that saw the jailing of Najib, his 'lightning rod' wife and the case of1MDB. It is far more sinister than what meets the eye. It is far more complex than what many Malaysians are able to understand.