The first day of the Chinese New Year is rocked not by deafening fireworks but by the Malaysian prime minister – rather, by what he uttered.
As reported, the prime minister was gracing a Chinese New Year reception hosted by MCA in Kuala Lumpur.
A Malaysiakini journalist is said to have asked for his response to the claim by former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar (who is now detained by Australian authorities) that he (Sirul) acted under orders in the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
As reported by Malaysiakini, "Najib, who was accompanied by his wife Rosmah Mansor, shook his head in disapproval and started to leave."
And ‘when pressed, he said 'utter rubbish' and left."
The prime minister’s reaction to the media probe is rocking the country. Everyone, from members of Parliament to the man in the street, are shocked at the prime minister’s statement.
People are now even more suspicious. They are asking logical questions. They want to know how come he can so abruptly dismiss the claim as “utter rubbish”.
Does he know more than the courts? Does he know more than all that has been published so far on the murder of the helpless, unarmed, fragile and lone female Mongolian citizen who is reported to have been shot and then blown away into tiny bits and pieces by military-grade C4 explosives?
People are shocked. Would a prime minister not direct an immediate investigation and provide all the necessary efforts in ensuring that the whole truth is unearthed in the wake of one of the condemned murderer’s claim?
The days and weeks ahead are set to be extremely vulnerable times for all those who may have had a hand, a mind, and a heart in the brutal killing of the woman, mother and daughter.
The entire judiciary is also placed in an awkward dilemma, given the prime minister’s two-word response, “utter rubbish”.
The resurfacing of the Altantuya murder episode that the government of Malaysia had hoped would have settled down with the recent court verdict sentencing the two highly trained police bodyguards, takes on a potent and lethal mixture now, given Sirul’s claim and the PM's reactionary absolute denial.
The shocking words and disposition of the prime minister comes hot on the heels of the Sodomy II verdict that incarcerated the charismatic opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to serve a five-year prison term.
There already is a unanimous, global disapproval of the Sodomy II outcome.
The on-going post-verdict nationwide roadshows by the lead prosecutor, aided by a powerful Umno Youth leader, disclosing sordid and almost pornographic details of Anwar's supposed, titillating behaviours, are also pushing the prime minister to the edge.
Citizens, being Asians, are not used to such public parades of sex-related bean spilling. In fact, the aggressive push by the prime minister’s political party Umno, in countering the public’s refusal to accept the court’s verdict on Anwar with an overdose of information that apparently was heard in-camera.
And as if these two murder and sex developments are not enough, adding to the over-boil is the New York Times front-page news report on how Najib’s step son is having an unprecedented “appetite for New York”.
This story comes hot on the heels of the now globally known Malaysian involvement in the 1MDB investments.
How long more will Malaysia survive the three cases of murder, sex and money?
How will the prime minister navigate, peddle through and survive these three shocking developments?
Or would he take the former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad's hint and call it quits?
To what extent will all three cases impact the nation’s future and all those leaders around the world who had courted him, including to a round of golf?
Indeed the first day of the Chinese Ram Year has started with a big ram on the leadership in Malaysia.
* J. D. Lovrenciear reads The Malaysian Insider.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.