Malaysia’s smoke and mirrors

Dragnet of politics, corruption, sex, murder starts with character assassination in Washington DC

By Ado Paglinawan
Special to Manila Mail

Sultan Kiram III communicating with his brother Raja Mudah, commander of the Royal Security Force in Sabah, that was reinforced by another 100 men after casualties decreased its strength to 135 after engaging the Malaysian police and military since March 1.

Things would have been just a matter of domestic politics. I did not even know that an election in Malaysia was being set in June, as my full attention was focused on our own Philippine mid-term elections on May 13, 2013.

But ignored from the peace process and totally marginalized by the BS Aquino government, the Sultanate of Sulu sent more than 200 of its Royal Security Force (RSF) from Simunul in Tawi-Tawi across the Philippine borders to Lahad Datu in Malaysia in what Kiram III termed as a “homecoming” event.

The rest would be history.

The Philippine toy president would disown the “intruders”, call their mission “foolhardy” and give them an ultimatum “to surrender or die”.

Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia, received the signal as a card blanche, withdrew the police cordon and sent his military to a scorched earth offensive against the Royal Security Force.

ACOUSTIC WAR

Based on the Malaysian government’s tally, at least 68 sultanate fighters had been killed in encounters with the Malaysian police and military, although less than 50 bodies have been recovered. Nine Malaysian policemen and soldiers have also been killed.

One of two controversial Scorpene submarines that was purchased by Malaysia from France, is shown as it is being led to dock at Port Klang near Kuala Lumpur on September 2009.

Razak would put eight captured alleged Filipinos to an indictment subject to capital punishment, but Sultan Kiram III disowned them as Malaysians.

From the way it now looks, the Malaysian Air Force merely staged an acoustic warfare for show business effect in order to silence local political attacks as to why his security and intelligence forces were not able to detect the transience of more than 200 armed foreigners.

Raja Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, who heads the RSF presence in Sabah, called the Sultanate headquarters in Taguig City and had them listen to the strafing of a territory distant from where they had secured themselves, saying that they were not in any harm’s way.

Sadly for the ruling party in Malaysia, however, the Lahad Datu incident comes at a time when the policial campaign for its parliamentary election has already reached fever-pitch with months still to go.

Its dominant party UMNO, founded by Mohammad Mahatir, implicated opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his party as having done consulted with the Sultan of Sulu and Nur Misuari insinuating that the “intrusion” was not a spontaneous act but a conspiracy to embarrass their incumbent government.

As we speak, however, the gambit did not fly and now Najib is in a depper imbroglio because RSF is back to combat capability after reinforcements of another 100 more men crossed the border onto Sabah..

Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani said Raja Mudah called him by phone to report that he had regrouped his forces, which had dwindled to around 135 men after fighting broke out in Lahad Datu on March 1. Thus, the protracted struggle to recover North Borneo for the Sultanate, I must say, is effectively in the works albeit now underground.

This is what happens when rulers prefer to meet opposition with testosterone instead of dialog and appeasement.

But the Sabah intrusion by RSF forces merely aggravated a Malaysian maze that was already steaming.

THE US FRONT

Last month, Free Malaysia Today reported that the government of Najib Razak paid an array of US mainstream publications, such as Huffington Post, San Francisco Examiner, Washington Times, National Review and RedState to politically assassinate opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in American media.

“The filing with the US Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) outlines a campaign spanning May 2008 to April 2011 and led by Joshua Trevino, a conservative hackman, who received $389,724.70 under the contract and paid smaller sums to a series of conservative writers,” FMT quoted BuzzFeed blog as saying..

In its report entitled “Covert Malaysian Campaign Touched A Wide Range Of Americans”, Trevino’s own filing showed that the interests paying him were in fact the government of Malaysia, “its ruling party, or interests closely aligned with either.”

The federal filing specified that Trevino was engaged through the lobbying firm APCO Worldwide and the David All Group, an American online consulting firm. The contract also involved a firm called Fact-Based Communications.

“Trevino was also employed to write for websites called MalaysiaMatters and MalaysiaWatcher,” it said.

His subcontractors included conservative writer Ben Domenech, who made $36,000 from the arrangement, and Rachel Ehrenfeld, the director of the American Center for Democracy, who made $30,000. Seth Mandel, an editor at Commentary, made $5,500. Brad Jackson, writing at the time for RedState, made $24,700.

“Of course, Josh picked me knowing what my opinion was — I stand by what I wrote at the time and I continue to be critical of Anwar Ibrahim, who I think is a particularly dangerous fellow,” added Domenech.

Mandel meanwhile said: Trevino approached me about a Malaysian opposition figure who had made anti-Semitic comments and was affiliated with anti-Israel organizations as I was blogging issues about anti-Semitism in 2010.

Commenting on the report, Malaysia’s opposition party’s communications director, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, pointed out that although the revelations has now blown up into a “major international scandal”, the Barisan Nasional government and Prime Minister Razak must answer as to how much taxpayers money has been used to smear Pakatan Rakyat and Anwar Ibrahim.

Why the seeming desperation on the part of Najib Razak to crucify pro-democracy Ibrahim in the American conservative press?

FROM DC TO PARIS

The answer to that question precisely plays up what has been happening to Malaysian politics since about seven years ago.

And last year, Agence France Presse reported that a scandal linking Malaysia’s present leader, a young woman’s murder and alleged kickbacks in a French submarine deal had resurfaced.

Even by the corruption-prone standards of Malaysia’s long-ruling coalition, which since 2009 has been headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Scorpene case is explosive.

Malaysian police escorts Abdul Razak Baginda to face trial. Baginda and then Defense Minister Najib Razak (now incumbent Prime Minister) have been accused as the masterminds of the gruesome murder of Altantuya Sharriibuu, a Mongolian model who assisted as translator in the negotiations for the Scorpene submarine deal held in Paris. Baginda was exonerated but two of Najib’s bodyguards were sentenced to death.

Central in allegations is that French submarine maker DCNS paid commission of more than 114 million euros ($142 million) to a purported shell company linked to Abdul Razak Baginda, a former close associate of Najib out of the $1 billion.

Abdul Razak’s Mongolian mistress, who was said to have demanded a payoff for working as a language translator in the deal, was shot dead and her body blown up with plastic explosives near the capital in 2006.

But the extraordinary affair sank off the radar in 2008 when a Malaysian court cleared Abdul Razak Baginda of abetting the murder, sparking an outcry and opposition allegations of a huge cover-up.

Further investigations were not pursued at that time.

But now acting on a complaint by opposition-leaning Malaysian rights group Suaram, the affair returned to the headlines with a vengeance, going viral on social media, after the French judges launched a new probe in April revolving around Najib Razak as the defense minister in 2002 when the Scorpenes were ordered.

A casual Altantuya in yellow green.

The probe is now filtering an allegation that a classified Malaysian defense ministry report on the country’s naval needs was sold out to French defense giant Thales, which part-owns DCNS, possibly to help land the contract, according to Suaram’s lawyer Joseph Breham.

Breham has told AFP that as parties to the case, Suaram are allowed to view evidence in the ongoing investigation and quote from it, but not distribute hard copies.

AFP is not able to verify the claims but Suaram official Cynthia Gabriel said “If the French investigation had not opened, we would never have known about these things.”

FRENCH LEAK

Last July 2, 2012, news portal Asia Sentinel published 133 documents, which it said were obtained from the French inquiry and showed the deal “has resulted in a long tangle of blackmail, bribery, influence peddling, misuse of corporate assets and concealment, among other allegations”.

The present defense minister however has told parliament the deal was done through “direct negotiations in accordance with procurement procedures”, without any commission being paid.

Najib himself has not commented publicly on Suaram’s latest claims but has previously denied any link to the graft allegations, rejecting them in 2008 as a politically-motivated smear by the opposition.

Malaysian authorities have long refused calls for a wide-ranging inquiry.

When Najib announced in June 5, 2002 that it has sealed a 1.035 billion euro (US$972 million) deal to buy three French submarines, he said the deal, which comes two months after Malaysia ordered missile systems and tanks, was not an arms build-up but to boost the navy’s capacity to police the country’s long and porous border
Its maiden deal with European shipbuilders DCN International and Izar involved two new Scorpene-class submarines and an overhauled ex-French navy submarine, the Agosta 70, for initial training.

The Scorpene SSK was selected from several other bids because of its high-technology features including an integrated combat system with torpedo launcher and launching missiles from underwater, he said.

The government in April ordered British and Russian missile systems worth 364 million dollars. It has also announced plans to buy more than 60 tanks from Poland and considering a deal to buy Russian Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jets.

As of this writing, as prime minister, Najib has already called on the Malaysian king to declare a vote of no confidence as fresh elections have already been called after two months in June. He will be seeking to reverse strong opposition gains in parliament at the last polls in 2008.

But he already faces corruption cases involving top officials, slowing economic growth, and questions over his pledges of change after police clashed with protesters at a rally for election reform attended by tens of thousands.

Suaram’s allegations give the opposition a fresh weapon, said top Malaysian pollster Ibrahim Suffian.

“The case has new legs now. At minimum, it could embarrass Najib if it points to involvement by those close to him, and of course worse if we see direct involvement by Najib,” he said.

Balasubramaniam Perumal or Bala, star witness in the Altantuya murder trial, was accorded a hero’s welcome when he returned to Malaysia. Arriving last week of February this year, he succumbed to heart attack on March 15, barely three weeks after his arrival from India where he sought self-exile.

Also looming is a late August court appeal by the two police officers convicted and sentenced to hang for the murder of Abdul Razak Baginda’s alleged mistress, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Both of them are former police bodyguards of Najib and one, Sirul Azhar Umar, has previously said he was a scapegoat for higher-level culprits.

The French inquiry is likely to take years, and focus more on French politicians and business people than Malaysian officials.

Breham however told AFP that other new evidence seen by the plaintiffs points to a previously unknown company in Hong Kong called Terasasi receiving 36 million euros ($45 million) from Thales.

Records indicate Abdul Razak Baginda was listed as heading the company, said Breham, citing information he said was provided by the judges.

BALA—THE GREAT WITNESS

But what has blown astronomic intrigue in the mind of the Malaysian populace way beyond the corruption angle, is Altantuya’s gruesome murder.

The damning implication of Najib came when private investigator named Balasubramaniam Perumal or Bala, started singing like a canary in the Altantuya trial.

Bala had earlier made a deposition or what is called in Malaysian law as statutory declaration or SD with the supoervision of his lawyer Americk Singh where he told the police all that he knew including everything Baginda and Altantuya had confided to him about their relationships with Najib.

The gruesome details were however omitted from the statement he was finally asked to sign after he was interrogated by Bukit Aman for seven consecutive days. In fact he was made to sign another SD denying almost all of the damning statements he made in the first version.

Bala however fled to India in 2008 on a self-exile to cool off after Baginda was exonerated by the court. He returned to Malaysia last February 24 and was accorded a hero’s welcome as he promised to campaign for the opposition.

But Hardly has he warmed his feet when barely a few weeks later on March 15, he succumbed to a heart attack, further increasing the drama on the celebrated murder case.

Anwar Ibrahim eulogized Bala as the man who was not afraid to tell the truth despite a clear and imminent danger to his life five years ago. It was Bala, Ibrahim added, that revealed that Najib Razak had sex with Altantuya in Paris and had her killed to silence her permanently.

Lindsay Murdoch, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald , said “the plot has all the trappings of a B-grade movie: the murder of a glamorous Mongolian socialite amid allegations of high-level bribery, blackmail, betrayal and political cover-up.”

“Najib denies involvement but the allegations will not go away. The internet in Malaysia is running hot with allegations by a disaffected businessman, Deepak Jaikishan, who is well connected in the ruling United Malays National Organization,” she added.

HOUSE OF SMOKE AND MIRRORS

The story revolves around the alleged cover-up of the murder of 28-year-old Mongolian fashion model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu in a patch of jungle in the Kuala Lumpur suburbs in 2006.

Murdock reports that Najib Razak, who is preparing for his first reelection since being installed in power by his party in 2009, denies ever meeting Altantuya or having any link with her. “But it was two of Najib’s bodyguards who dragged Ms. Shaariibuu from a car, knocked her unconscious and shot her twice in the head on October 19, 2006, according to court testimony.

“She had begged for her life and apparently that of her unborn child. The killers then wrapped her body in C4 plastic explosives obtained from the military and blew her up, ensuring the fetus was destroyed along with the identity of the father. For good measure, they erased her entry into Malaysia from immigration records,” the Sydney Morning Herald reporter said.

Ms. Shaariibuu was born in 1978 and raised in Russia. Despite training as a teacher, she briefly stayed in France to attend modeling school before returning to Mongolia in 1990. Her travels explain why she was fluent in Russian, Mongolian, Chinese, English and some French.

Stunningly beautiful, she married a popular Mongolian techno singer when she was 19, got divorced and then married the son of a famous Mongolian fashion designer before she was even 23. BBC News reported that Altantuya was introduced to Abdul Razak Baginda, a defense analyst from the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre think-tank, at an international diamond convention in Hong Kong by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, and had a relationship with him eventually becoming his mistress.

Murdock continued, “She admitted in a letter found after her murder that she had been blackmailing Baginda, who had jilted her after they had travelled through Asia and Europe together. She reportedly had wanted a US$500,000 cut to remain silent about her knowledge of the deal.”

Altantuya was abducted outside Baginda’s house, as she was causing a scene. Her murder was eventually uncovered following continued pressure from her well-connected family and the Mongolian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

In a statutory declaration in his sedition trial in June 2008, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said that he was ‘reliably informed’ that Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of then Deputy PM and concurrent Defense Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, was one of three other individuals who were present at the crime scene when Altantuya Shaariibuu was murdered on October 19, 2006.

According to Raja Petra, Rosmah was with her aide-de-camp Norhayati and her husband Acting Colonel Aziz Buyong. “It was Aziz Buyong who placed C4 plastic explosive on Altantuya’s body and blew it up,” he added.
Both Norhayati and Aziz Buyong had since filed oral defamation charges against the blogger.

PROGNOSIS

The next chapter to this evolving business is who will lead Malaysia’s new parliament in June. Black and blue, another UMNO victory seemingly does not augur well for this Islamic nation as Mahatir and Razak forces could be expected to further tighten their authoritarian control and escalate human rights abuses under the country’s tedious internal security and anti-terrorism laws.

On the other hand, an ascent by Anwar Ibrahim and his party Pakatan Rakyat could bring Malaysia forward to becoming the world’s youngest democracy that can anticipate meaningful reform towards freer people participation in national governance.

Subsequent to the latter, the Sultanate of Sulu and Nur Misuari’s forces stand to benefit in its standing with Kuala Lumpur, finding in Anwar a friendly counterpart, enabling statesmanship and not violence as the preferential option towards the Sultanate’s claim for North Borneo, and Misuari’s ascendancy over Bangsamoro.

# # #

ADO PAGLINAWAN was the backdoor negotiator of the Philippine Government Peace Talks with the Moro National Liberation Front and Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army in 1987, while serving as special assistant of Ambassador Emmanuel Pelaez and press officer of the Philippine Embassy from April 1986 to February 1994. After his diplomatic posting, he acted as a private strategic public relations consultant to various clients between Washington DC and Manila, notably to Richard Gordon as Chairman of the Subic Bay Management Authority from 1995-98 and as Secretary of Tourism from 2001 to 2004, and Luisito Lorenzo as Secretary of Agriculture from December 2002 to July 2004. As a freelance journalist, he has been writing extensively for yahoo groups and social media since 1998 and publishes two eMagazines, HeadsUp for faith, family and life since 2007 and The Philippines Soberano since 2012. Comments to mymaestro@ymail.com.