______________
Media Statement        
by Lim Kit Siang  
_________________

(Petaling Jaya, Sunday) : Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give a full statement of what he knew about the Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu who was murdered and blown to bits with powerful high-security C4 explosive last October instead of letting out information in bits and pieces. 

On the eve of Ijok nomination on Wednesday (18^th April), Najib made his first comment when he said he was not afraid of allegations linking him to the case of the murdered Mongolian woman, that they were “merely lies to discredit him” and that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and the police “knew the truth”. 

On Ijok nomination the next day, Najib said that he “would not take lying down” accusations hurled against him by the opposition in the Ijok by-election campaign and would “respond to the personal attacks to the fullest extent possible…in the context of the law”. 

Last night, Najib released another bit of information when he said in Ijok that he had never met Altantuya. 

He said: “I have only seen pictures of her in the media.” 

Najib owes it to the voters of Ijok and the 26 million people of Malaysia to give a full account of what he knew about Altantuya before her gruesome murder instead of being forced to release bits and pieces of information which only raises more questions. 

For instance, was Najib aware of Altantuya’s activities and interests inside and outside the country before her gruesome murder and the circumstances of such knowledge and information – which is a completely separate issue from the case of her murder. 

Furthermore, when Najib said that the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and the police “knew the truth”, what is this “truth” that he was talking about and are the Prime Minister, Attorney-General and the police prepared to publicly corroborate Najib’s claim?

(22/4/2007)