The integrity of the whole nation is on trial

I have not commented much on the Altantuya murder case. I want to keep an open mind and let the trial run its course. Nevertheless, I have been closely following the media reports, especially in the Malaysiakini website, and also overseas sites.

One report caught my eyes yesterday. This is from the STRAITS TIMES, and in the article, it says that not only the defendants are on trial, the integrity of the national institutions are also on trial. That about sums up the opinion of most of the foreign reports on this case.

Malaysia needs to tread very carefully in this case. I really hope, for the sake of the integrity and the good name of the country , that this should not only be a fair trial, but must be seen as a fair trial.

The judge, the prosecution as well as the defence lawyers must try to give their very best and there should be total transparency on this case.

I hope i won’t be dsiappointed.

Here is the report from Straits Times:

Much at stake for KL in Mongolian murder trial
Govt faces questions over how it does business and integrity of public institutions
By Leslie Lopez, South-east Asia Correspondent

POLITICAL LINKS: Abdul Razak arriving at the Shah Alam court on June 4, only to have the trial postponed. — REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR – WHEN the high-profile murder trial of a Mongolian part-time model begins on Monday, the Malaysian government will find itself in the dock together with the three men accused of the gruesome crime.
That is because the peculiar twists and turns surrounding her murder have sparked fresh debates about the independence and integrity of Malaysia’s public institutions and the way the government does business.

The last time the Malaysian government was caught in a similar tight spot was in 1998, during the corruption and sexual misconduct trials of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim after he fell out with his former boss Mahathir Mohamad.

The Anwar trials severely undermined the Mahathir administration.

The question now is how much damage the murder trial of Ms Altantuya Shaaribuu will do to Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s administration ahead of a general election, which is expected to be called within the next 12 months.

The government has charged two commando specialists previously assigned to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s security detail with the killing of Ms Altantuya last October.

Prominent political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, Datuk Seri Najib’s close associate and former political adviser, has been charged with abetting the murder of Ms Altantuya, who was shot twice in the head and whose body was destroyed by C4 explosives issued by the government to its crack commando units.

In January, Abdul Razak admitted to having had an affair with Ms Altantuya between late 2004 and August 2005.

The trial, which was to have begun on June 4, was adjourned to next Monday after Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail suddenly replaced the prosecution team that had originally prepared the government’s case.

Tan Sri Abdul Gani, who did not appear in court to explain the change, told national news agency Bernama after the adjournment that he was forced to remove chief prosecutor Salehuddin Saidin because he had found out only days before the trial that the latter played badminton regularly with the trial’s presiding judge, Datuk Mohd Zaki Mohd Yasin.

But Tan Sri Abdul Gani’s eleventh-hour switch of prosecutors has only raised more questions among senior lawyers and political analysts.

Senior lawyer N. Sivananthan, who monitors criminal cases for the Malaysian Bar Council, described the Attorney-General’s explanation for overhauling the prosecution team as ‘inadequate’.

He and several other senior lawyers said the regular badminton sessions between the prosecutor and trial judge were common knowledge and became public in early January after the untimely death of Justice Abdul Wahab Said Ahmad.

In January, Justice Abdul Wahad had a fatal heart attack while playing badminton with his regular group which comprised, among others, Mr Salehuddin and Datuk Mohd Zaki.

The sudden change of prosecutors has stoked even more speculation, including the possibility that the charges against Abdul Razak and one of the commando specialists may be dropped when the trial resumes next Monday.

Datuk Seri Anwar, the deposed deputy premier, alleged that there has been political interference, which caused the delays and changes to key figures in the murder trial.

‘If it is not politics, I do not know what (else is causing the mystery surrounding the case). It is neither facts nor law,’ he said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

He pointed out that the many rumours surrounding the case in recent months had had the uncanny knack of becoming fact.

Datuk Seri Anwar should know.

The hiccups in the Mongolian murder trial are reminiscent of missteps by Malaysian prosecutors during his sexual misconduct and corruption trials in 1998.

At those trials, the prosecution’s case came under attack from the start because it amended the charges of sexual misconduct against Datuk Seri Anwar twice during the trial.

At the time, the former deputy prime minister claimed that the prosecution’s charge was amended for the second time because the building where the alleged offence had been committed had not been completed yet.

Analysts and politicians here are divided as to whether the upcoming murder trial will have a major impact on national politics the way Datuk Seri Anwar’s trials divided Malaysians, particularly the politically dominant ethnic Malays.

Opposition leaders say the Mongolian murder has given Malaysians a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the way the government does business and raises questions about just how much commitment Datuk Seri Abdullah has to reforms.

The case is likely to put pressure on the Prime Minister to revisit his plan to establish an independent commission to investigate abuses by the country’s police force.

It is also forcing Datuk Seri Abdullah to carry out a review of the opaque dealings surrounding arms purchases by the government, where politically well-connected middlemen rake in huge commissions.

In 2002, a company linked closely to Abdul Razak received commissions of several hundred million dollars for its role in facilitating Malaysia’s purchase of Scorpene and Agosta submarines from France.

Datuk Seri Anwar said in a recent interview: ‘The case aside, there are big issues here – dangerous elements within the police force and the question of how hundreds of millions of dollars are dished out in defence contracts.’

Clearly then, any mishandling of the case would only buttress the opposition’s campaign that very little has changed in Malaysia since Datuk Seri Abdullah took over from Tun Dr Mahathir.

But independent political analysts say that the political fallout from the trial will not push voters, particularly the Malays, away from the government in the next general election.

Senior political scientist Khoo Boo Teik, who teaches at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, said: ‘The trial has been internationalised, but any mishandling won’t lead to the kind of fallout that the government faced with the Anwar trial.

‘The fallout will be limited to questions about the public institutions like the judiciary and the police, and the government’s reputation abroad.’