But why must Altantuya be killed?

The scandal was in fact a ticking time bomb for UMNO and it was in UMNO’s lap. Any implication sticking to Najib who assumed office as prime minister in April 2009 would be devastating. Najib had also been the Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO deputy president since 2004 and was being groomed to take over from the then premier Abdullah Badawi.

Badawi was at that time struggling to stay in power. He could not decide on what to do. Musa Hassan who was the Inspector General of Police when the scandal unfolded declared recently that he had told Badawi that Najib was not involved in the murder.

Mahathir who has been abnormally quiet over the Scorpene-Altantuya case has never commented much on it. But according to UMNO insiders, he was actually on top of things. He knew what was going on as he still had spies in the Special Branch. Sensing Badawi would be of no help in such a critical situation and that Najib lacked shrewdness, Mahathir decided to intervene. He convinced the IGP that no matter what, UMNO must be saved.

Najib would then be told to let the police handle the murder investigation and he would in turn tell Rosmah to go along with whatever the police did. UMNO - which the latest documents seized by French police showed also had a stake in the Scorpenes commission - too wanted the whole scandal to be suppressed. So how else but the usual political arm-twisting. Make use of the judiciary and rig the trial! Sounds familiar?

But no matter how many Qurans or holy books Najib swears on, it is impossible for anyone who goes through the case to not think he was directly involved in some way or other. Same goes for UMNO, Baginda and Rosmah. Whether anyone of them actually ordered Altantuya's killing is premature to guess for now. It is still possible to know the truth as the two bodyguards who shot and bombed her are still alive on death row, appealing their hanging sentences.

And one day, the two killers might just decide to come clean. Even if they 'disappeared' as many Malaysians fear they might, the truth can still be uncovered because there are so many intertwined documents and witness accounts. All it takes is an honest-to-goodness police investigation and a fair and un-rigged court trial or public inquiry! Then even if the Scorpenes money takes years to recover, at least the ghost of Altantuya can finally be laid to rest. And the Malaysian flag fly high in the sky without the shadow of murder blotting its glory.