I have never met Mongolian model: Najib

The Straits Times, April 22, 2007
By Reme Ahmad



BATANG BERJUNTAI (SELANGOR) - DEPUTY Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak yesterday went on the offensive to quash speculation that he was somehow involved in the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He said he had never met her and her case had 'nothing to do at all' with him.

His comments yesterday were his strongest yet on the issue since he broke his silence on the Altantuya murder case last week.

Datuk Seri Najib had earlier said he did not want to say much about the case as it was pending in the courts.

A political analyst close to him, Razak Baginda, has been charged with abetting in the murder of the 28-year Mongolian model last October.

Two policemen whose jobs were to guard VIPs, including the Deputy Prime Minister, have been charged with her murder.

Datuk Seri Najib's initial silence on the matter had fuelled talk by the opposition that he was implicated in the murder.

The issue became even more charged after former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat is contesting in the Ijok by-election, started to openly attack Datuk Seri Najib over it.

Speaking to a group of some 500 villagers while on the stump in Ijok yesterday, Datuk Seri Najib hit back.

'What has Altantuya got to do with Ijok constituency? It's got nothing to do with me at all. I am not involved at all with Altantuya. Allah is my witness,' he said.

'I myself have never met Altantuya, except seeing her picture in newspapers,' he pointed out. 'This is another person's problem.'

He added that he had kept silent over alleged misdeeds by his political foe 'because Datuk Seri Anwar has a family'.

'Police officers came to see me and told me things. I don't have the stomach to reveal anything because I don't want to embarrass him as he has a family,' he said, without elaborating. Datuk Seri Anwar had been the heir-apparent to then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad until 1998, when he was sacked after being charged with sodomy and corruption. He was convicted and jailed for six years.

But his sodomy conviction was later overturned, although the corruption verdict still stands, barring him from standing for public office until April next year.

Separately, Tun Dr Mahathir yesterday made his dislike for his successor very clear when he said he wanted Datuk Seri Najib to take the top post soon.

He said Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi should give way to his deputy by the next general election, widely speculated to be held by the end of this year or early next year.

Looking back, he said that Datuk Seri Najib should have been his successor because he had won more votes in the party elections than the current Prime Minister.

'But Najib is younger, and I felt I should give Datuk Seri Abdullah a chance to be prime minister for one term. He should now hand over to Najib,' he said. 'But I now hear that he (Prime Minister Abdullah) wants to stay on for three terms.'

Datuk Seri Abdullah has already said he has no intention of being a one-term Prime Minister.

This is not the first time that Tun Mahathir has openly expressed his preference for Datuk Seri Najib but it comes at a time when the Deputy Premier is under severe pressure from opposition attacks over the Mongolian murder case as well as alleged wrongdoing in the country's purchase of submarines.

There are even rumours suggesting that he may not succeed Prime Minister Abdullah.

Tun Mahathir was speaking at a grassroots Umno function organised by a party branch. It was attended by about 300 people. The former prime minister has no influence over Umno decisions on its leaders but he is clearly hoping to chip away at the support for Datuk Seri Abdullah.