KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 ― DAP MP Lim Lip Eng asked today if Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar knows the difference between “hearsay” and credible press reports, claiming the national police chief had been wrong to dismiss Sirul Azhar Umar's latest revelations on the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder.
Lim said Khalid's claim that his police report on Sirul’s remarks was merely based on “hearsay” was inaccurate as it was in reference to what the former police commando told news portal Malaysiakini.
“Does Khalid even know the difference between hearsay and credible media reports?” the Segambut MP asked in a statement here.
Lim, who was the first lawmaker to lodge a police report on Sirul's claim that he was acting under orders when he killed Altantuya in 2006, pointed out that the former police commando had said this in an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini.
“This is not hearsay, this is the truth,” the DAP man insisted.
Yesterday, Khalid said the police will not reopen Altantuya's murder case because of Sirul's claim as Lim's police report on the matter was merely based on hearsay reported in the media.
“Mere allegations are not sufficient ground,” the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) was quoted telling Malaysiakini.
“Section 110(1)(b) further states that the police need not proceed or further proceed if there is no sufficient ground. In fact, it states that the police shall not do so,” he was quoted as saying.
In his attempt today to school the IGP on the meaning of “hearsay”, Lim pointed out that when Khalid ordered on Twitter a probe on DAP's Kampar MP Dr Ko Chung Sen, it was merely because of a banner on social media claiming the lawmaker wants the “Islamic civilisation” subject scrapped.
In that matter, Khalid saw it fit to order Dr Ko to be investigated for sedition, Lim said.
The lawmaker then told the IGP to carry out his duties more effectively instead of “spending so much time on Twitter”.
He said Khalid should seek permission from the Australian authorities, who now have Sirul in custody, to either confirm or deny if the former police commando had truly spoken to Malaysiakini in the interview.
“This is the best way to decide if it was mere 'hearsay',” Lim said. “Check directly with those involved in the interview.”
If Khalid refuses to speak to the Australian authorities, the DAP lawmaker said Putrajaya should step in by demoting the IGP or censuring him.
“If all Khalid wants to do is entertain information spread on Twitter while rejecting news reports as hearsay, then just tell him to play with Twitter at home.
“There are many others more capable of becoming the IGP,” Lim said.
Sirul is reportedly considering revealing why he and another former police commando shot dead the Mongolian model and blew her body up with explosives.
Currently detained by Australian immigration authorities, he claimed that the Federal Court should have called his then-superior, deputy superintendent Musa Safri, to testify.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has confirmed that Malaysian police have sent a formal request to Australia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to extradite Sirul.
Australia’s extradition legislation prohibits an individual from being sent back to another country for an offence punishable by death, unless that country pledges not to carry out a death sentence.
Sirul and former chief Inspector Azilah Hadri were charged with the murder of 28-year-old Altantuya in 2006 and convicted in 2009.
They were freed after the appellate court acquitted them in 2013, but the Federal Court reversed the acquittal last month and sent them back to hang, marking the end to the eight-year saga.
