Will Altantuya help Nasir to wriggle out from racism charge

Civil society groups and political leaders have urged Prime Minister Najib Razak not to let his special officer Nasir Safar off with just a resignation and a police probe that leads nowhere, as that would be “adding salt to the wound” of the Chinese and Indian communities that Nasir insulted earlier this week.

“We have seen too many times the police publicly announcing their investigations and then passing the file to the Attorney-General,” N Gobalakrishnan, PKR supreme council member, told Harakahdaily.

“But it always seems to stop there. Mysteriously the file will stay there until almost everyone forgets about it, like the Lingam tape. And then they will say not enough evidence!”

The Altantuya link

Indeed, speculation is rife that the PM will not dare to charge Nasir under the Sedition Act even if there was a waterproof case because of their alleged links in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

The buzz in cyberspace and the electronic media is that Nasir had helped Najib to check up on Altantuya the night she went missing. The 28-year old Mongolian translator was murdered in Malaysia in 2006 by two former bodyguards of Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor. Both Najib and Rosmah have denied they ever knew Altantuya.

“This is a test case for Najib. He has to show his resolve and that he is ready to protect the rights of all racial groups in the country and not just the Malays,” Dr Syed Azman, head of PAS’s international bureau, told Harakahdaily.

“At the micro level, this really shows up the PM in a very negative light. After all, if his special aide thinks and talks this way, the citizenry will be right in doubting the sincerity of his 1Malaysia unity efforts. They will think this is also the way Najib thinks and talks in private!”

Police probe

Nasir incurred infamy at an official 1Malaysia forum held in Malacca earlier this week when he allegedly said that “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese especially the women came to sell their bodies”. He also threatened to revoke their citizenship if they caused trouble.

Since then he has made a public apology and resigned from his long-held job. Meanwhile, Malacca police chief Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof said police would call Nasir to lodge his statement soon, probably next Monday or Tuesday.

"So far, the investigation is 85 per cent completed and only waiting for his statement to fully complete the probe," Rodwan told reporters.

However, Rodwan’s own credibility is also in doubt.

Corruption and conspiracy

The police chief, who was formerly based in Bukit Aman, has been accused of helping former premier Mahathir Mohamad fabricate evidence against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim during the latter's sodomy trial in 1998.

According to a popular news portal, Rodwan was also the police officer that Saiful Bukhari Azlan went to meet in 2008, two days before lodging a complaint against Anwar for the latest round of sodomy charges.

Indeed, so disenchanted by the web of conspiracy and rampant corruption in the country, a group of Indian NGOs led by Hindu Sangam Malaysia has announced plans to initiate legal action against Nasir.

They are demanding that his citizenship be revoked and are also seeking RM100 million as compensation for his recent inflammatory remarks.

"If the government fails to act, we will call on all parliamentarians and state assemblypersons representing the Indian community to leave all assembly sittings and if there is still inaction, then they should proceed to resign