The Altantuya Ghost Is Alive
13 Mar, 2009Opposition MP for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo was suspended from the House Thursday (12 March) for refusing to stop raising the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu when he rose to ask a question to Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister. But this does not stop the Altantuya ghost from popping up again when least expected.
An article written by the Bangkok-based journalist of the Liberation French newspaper appeared today in the online edition of The Nation, a major Thai English newspaper. The special edition is entitled :The Altantuya Shaaribuu Case: How and why she was killed by written by Arnaud Dubus. A smiliar story by Dubus in French had already appeared in the Liberation on 5 March.
Dubus begins his story with: “SHAARIBUU SETEV is a bitter and disappointed man. Yet behind the sad face of this Mongolian lies a fierce determination.
"My daughter has been murdered by Malaysians on Malaysian territory. And they did not even offer a word of apology," states this professor of psychology at the National University of Mongolia.”
He said the murder of the Mongolian beauty took place in Oct 2006. Everything in this case - which started in 2002 when the French-Spanish company Armaris concluded the sale of three submarines to the Malaysian government for1 billion Euros- is out of the ordinary.
Dubus has also taken a personal interest in the murder and has set up the Altantuya Foundation in Bangkok where he acts as the coordinator.
I emailed him for more details and he responded immediately: “First, the Altantuya Foundation thank you for your concern about the Altantuya case…In the first day of the foundation establishment…20 persons have offered donations.”
“Once a sizable amount is on the account, it will be officially donated to the Mongolian Embassy in Bangkok, who will convey it to Mr Shaaribuu. We had a meeting this morning with the Mongolian embassy. They will open a special account so that money can be wired directly. This will take about a week as they need the authorization of the foreign ministry in Ulan Bator,” he said.
Dubus h has also set up a blog for the foundation: “An association of independent journalists based in Bangkok and coordinated by French Liberation correspondent, Arnaud Dubus, has set up a foundation to offer material support to the family of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, killed in Malaysia in October 2006.”
“The Altantuya Foundation aims to bring concrete help to Mr Shaariibuu, the father of the deceased, and her two children, Altanshagai (five years old) and Mungunshagai (12 years old).
“When I met Shaariibuu in Ulan Bator in January, he told me he has not bought clothes for two years as he could not afford it. This sixty-year old man has to work on two different jobs, to be able to take care of his two orphaned grandchildren”, says Arnaud Dubus.
“I am a journalist, but I also have a heart. I could not help feel compassion for the Shaariibuu family”, he adds.
He said for transparency, the foundation will be supervised by the Mongolian Embassy in Bangkok. All donations will be given to the Embassy, which will convey them directly to Mr Shaariibuu.
The first donor was Danthong Breen, well-known Thai human rights activist and Chairman of the Union for Civil Liberties. All donors will receive an official receipt. Small contributions (as well as bigger ones, but not too big please) are very much welcome, as any small amount can make a huge difference for the life of the Shaariibuu Family, he added.
Dubus said foundation founders consider that it would be a wonderful gesture of human solidarity for people from different Nations, Asian and Western, to show their support for the family of this young interpreter savagely killed at the age of 28 years old. He gave the email address as altantuyashaaribuu@yahoo.com. (By BOB TEOH/ MySinchew)
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