From Paris to Bagan Pinang, Altantuya story retold

Anwar Ibrahim Blog (Malaysiakini)

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s four-day visit to Paris has invoked memories of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu’s brutal murder.

Altantuya was the alleged the translator for a Malaysian company – owned by Razak Baginda, a close confidante of Najib – that secured the purchase of two French-made Scorpene submarines.

Naturally, this was the first thing that came to the minds of the French press when Najib arrived for his four-day visit on Oct 4.

To their dismay, Najib did not address them. Instead, the press corps turned to Batu MP Tian Chua and Selayang MP William Leong, who were in Paris to coincide with the premier’s visit.

Speaking to a crowd of about 300 people during a ceramah at Batu 3, Jalan Pantai in Port Dickson, as part of Bagan Pinang by-election campaign last night, Chua said the French media was mainly interested in one thing.

“The French press didn’t ask about our political system or opportunities for their investors. They only want to know about what has happened to the Altantuya case,” said Chua, who rushed to Bagan Pinang hours after arriving at KLIA yesterday evening.

French facination with Altantuya

To the disappointment of the crowd and a handful of journalists present, Chua chose not to elaborate on information he had gathered in Paris, stating that more details will surface in the future.

However, Chua questioned the purpose of Najib’s visit to France, claiming that the trip was not on the official invitation of the French government.

To stress his point, Chua said that although Najib met his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, the duo did not announce any bilateral agreements nor did they hold the customary joint press conference.

“We don’t know what else he did there. According to the French journalists, Rosmah (Mansor, Najib’s wife) did a lot of shopping,” Chua.

Speaking to reporters later, Chua said the purpose of his visit to Paris was to brief NGOs and the press about French-Malaysian arms deal and to provide updates on the Altantuya case.

“Almost everyone wants to know about Altantuya’s murder trial and issues with the Malaysian judiciary,” he said.

‘Najib did not meet French press’

He claims that he and Leong were approached to inform the French public on how Parliament debated the arms deal and the Altantuya case.

He said he had prepared Parliament Hansard papers and this was shared with the French press.

“The media come to us because they could not get Najib. He did not have any public interaction with the media. There is no way they can even put forward a question,” he adds.

Chua said he can only speculate on what Najib did in between his speech at Unesco and the two visits to top French government officials.

“However, he would have to go there to in order to follow up with DCN over the delivery of another submarine,” he said