Bangkok: Opposition politicians in Malaysia have called for an investigation into who is behind a former police commando making videos in Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre defending embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Sirul Azhar Umar, a former bodyguard to Mr Najib, has been allowed to make four videos in Villawood, including one to be released this week in which he says he will reveal the names of five people who tried to convince him to link Mr Najib to the murder in Kuala Lumpur of glamorous Mongolian socialite Altantuya Shaariibuu.
But opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) MP Lim Lip Eng has asked Malaysian police to investigate the making of the videos and called on Sirul to reveal who ordered him to shoot 28-year-old Ms Shaariibuu twice in the head and blow up her body with explosives – as she reportedly begged for the life of her unborn child – in 2006.
Ramkarpal Singh, another DAP MP, said that until Sirul reveals who ordered him to commit the murder “let us not be unnecessarily swayed by the antics of this convicted murderer whose credibility is seriously compromised”.
Sirul has used the videos to dramatically recant earlier “confessions” that he was a scapegoat who was ordered to commit the murder along with another of Mr Najib’s bodyguards. Both men have been sentenced to hang in Malaysia.
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The freedom given to a detainee convicted over one of the most shocking crimes in Malaysia’s recent history contrasts with legislation passed last year making it a criminal offence punishable by up to two years’ jail for those working in detention centres to reveal information to anyone about anything they came across while doing their jobs.
In the videos, Sirul denied that Mr Najib had anything to do with the murder.
He also denied that 28-year-old Ms Shaariibuu was pregnant with the child of a “certain person”, an apparent reference to Mr Najib.
Ms Shaariibuu worked as a translator in a $US2 billion deal for Malaysia to buy two French/Spanish-built submarines when Mr Najib was defence minister.
