KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has issued an international alert for a missing private investigator after he made, and abruptly retracted, allegations about the deputy prime minister's links to a high-profile murder case, the police said on Sunday.
The detective, Balasubramaniam Perumal, disappeared along with his wife and three children on Friday after retracting an allegation that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak had sexual relations with the murder victim, Altantuya Shaariibu.
Najib's political adviser, Abdul Razak Baginda, and two state bodyguards are on trial for her death in October 2006.
The chief of criminal investigations for the National Police, Bakri Zinin, said at a news conference on Sunday that the Malaysian police, Interpol and the police in neighboring countries have been alerted. "I give a guarantee of his safety, if he comes to meet us, and he is free to bring a lawyer," Bakri said.
Najib has repeatedly denied he had ever had a sexual relationship with Shaariibu, a Mongolian national, or had conspired to cover up her murder, allegations made on Thursday by Balasubramaniam, who was working for Abdul Razak at the time of the killing.
The detective's bombshell was the latest twist in the high-stakes political melodrama that has gripped Malaysia since a March 8 general election handed unprecedented gains to a resurgent opposition led by a former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.
Najib and Anwar are competing to become Malaysia's next prime minister. Both are battling accusations that could ruin their political careers.
Anwar was due to address a rally on Sunday night protesting rising food and fuel prices. Nearly 10,000 people had gathered at a soccer stadium outside Kuala Lumpur by early afternoon. The police declared the event an illegal gathering but were allowing it to proceed as long as the rally was confined to the stadium grounds, officials said.
The government raised fuel prices 41 percent last month, adding to the unpopularity of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's government.
"Oil has gone up. Goods have gone up. People are left with less money," said Faridah Jantan, a 48-year-old mother of five who was at the rally. "This weekend we will take up the fight."
The opposition won power in five states and came within 30 seats of taking over the 222-member national Parliament in the election. Shortly after Anwar said he was close to winning the majority by wooing defectors from the ruling coalition, a 23-year-old aide came forward to accuse him of sodomy, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Bakri told the Sunday news conference that his office has taken statements from 18 witnesses, including medical doctors who examined the accuser, but has yet to summon Anwar.
The rally's organizers were aiming to attract as many as a million people ahead of Anwar's speech. Malaysia, set to become a net importer of oil in 2011, last month raised fuel prices for the first time in two years by cutting subsidies that kept domestic costs artificially low.
"Our main agenda is to gather people to protest the price hike," said Hatta Ramli, a member of parliament and treasurer of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. "Whether the price of petrol will be brought down or not, we'll see, but we hope the strong presence of leaders and people will send a strong message to Abdullah that we need to do something."
International Herald Tribune
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