by Ismail Dahlan
Summer is turning to autumn in London, the chill is in the
air, and the Guards in Buckingham Palace have swapped their bright red summer
outfits for grey winter greatcoats. Weather never stops the tourists from
coming to London though and they will still be thronging Buckingham and the
busy streets of London.
But on Friday, the 30th of September, at one of the lecture
theatres of the BPP Law School in Red Lion Street, a short walk from Holborn
station, a more serious gathering will take place.
The Solicitors International Human Rights Group (SIHRG) and
Suaram have organized a briefing and fund-raising event on the Malaysian
Scorpene corruption case. Speakers will include Joseph Breham of SHERPA, the
French non-profit organization that has taken up the case, and Cynthia Gabriel
of Suaram. Approximately 300 to 500 participants are expected, many of them
Malaysians residing in London.
A
long shadow
Hovering over all, larger now in death than in life,
will be the shadow of Altantuya Shaariiibuu, the Mongolian who was brutally,
mercilessly, murdered in Kuala Lumpur. Those who thought they could shut her up
by killing her have been proven very wrong. She will continue to haunt them
until she gets the justice she deserves.
Two policeman have been convicted for killing her, but they
lack a motive. Until those with the obvious motive to silence her are arrested
and convicted, no matter who or howsoever high they sit, there will be no
closure in this case.
Why have the police not continued with their investigation
until those who gave the order are found? Why has the AG not returned the
investigation papers and demanded a complete investigation? If Razak Baginda,
who had helped Najib negotiate the RM7 billion Scorpene purchase, is not guilty
of giving the order to kill, then who is?
As long as these questions are not answered, then the justice
system in Malaysia cannot be said to be working and we cannot be considered to
be a nation of laws, the ideal espoused by John Adams.
Justice
is due
Inextricably linked with the whole Scorpene scandal is
current Prime Minister Najib Razak. He was the defence minister who bought the
Scorpenes, which when they arrived were reportedly malfunctioning and unable to
dive. Razak Baginda was his aide.
The policemen who were convicted of Altantuya’s murder were
part of his security detail. Circumstantial it may be, but hardly the kind of
shadow that a Prime Minister would want hanging over him. Also the odds for
such a coincidence must be mind-boggling.
Yet Najib refuses to submit himself to inquiry. In the US or
in any European country he would have have to resign and accept examination,
but not so here. Here, Najib chose to swear instead that he never knew
Altantuya, in curious alternative to a judicial enquiry.
Malaysia owes justice to Altantuya and her family, a justice
that we have yet to deliver. She should be alive and with her family in the
grassland steppes of Mongolia; not a pile of ashes in Malaysia. The attempt to
blow up her body with C4 shows that the idea was for her to ‘disappear’, never
to be heard from again.
It touches a nerve, for Bruno Manser too ‘dissapeared’. He
too was viewed as a ‘problem’ by some. Malaysia's Attorney General is remiss in
not reopening the Bruno case again after what happened with Altantuya.
The event tomorrow need not have been held in distant London.
It should have been held in Malaysia. But the last SHERPA lawyer to visit
Malaysia, William Bourdon, was unceremoniously deported by the Malaysian
government. So Joseph Breham will have to go to London. And perhaps there is
something in that, as it was an English poet, Chaucer, who first wrote that,
“murder will out”.
For those who are able to attend, you may register and get
further details at:
Source : MC
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