> Allegations resurface

Altantuya Shariibuu, the controversially murdered Mongolian national, and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are back again in the spotlight.

Making waves in cyberspace is an article entitled ‘Abuse of power by the deputy prime minister’ appearing in ISA detainee Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s Malaysia Today website. 

The report reveals a string of SMS messages purportedly exchanged between Najib and lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah over a period of nearly one month, starting from Nov 8 to Dec 2, 2006.

The correspondence between the two had revolved around Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Najib’s advisors charged with abetting two police officers in the slaying of the 28-year old Mongolian national - with whom the deputy premier has been alleged to have had a sexual relationship.

The 55-year old Najib, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, has sworn his innocence twice - the latest at a mosque during the height of the Permatang Pauh by-election tussle with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Text messages

The Malaysia Today article said while the SMS correspondence did “not answer lingering questions about Najib's alleged past relations with Altantuya, the text messages show clearly Najib's active intereference in the case very early on.”  

One of the text messages allegedly sent by Najib said that Razak “will face a tentative charge but all is not lost.” 

The article went on to question: “This message raises a lot of questions about Najib's role in this case. Why did he mention ‘tentative’ charge and that ‘all is not lost’ for Razak Baginda?  How would Najib know this before Razak was charged?  Is there already a deal in place that will see Razak aquitted?”

Raja Petra, the editor of Malaysia Today, was arrested under the Internal Security Act last month and jailed for two years for allegedly disrespecting Islam in some of the articles that had appeared on the website. 

He is also facing sedition charges for having allegedly implied the deputy premier and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were involved in Altantuya’s death. Both have denied the allegation - Malaysiakini.