The hunt for Bala is on (UPDATED with Chinese & BM translations)
Your mission, ASP Suresh, if you decide to accept it, will be to try and locate private investigator Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal somewhere in Chennai, India, whereby you will attempt to silence him by whatever means necessary. If you are captured or detected, the government of Malaysia will deny having any arrangements with you. This DVD will self-destruct in ten seconds.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Does the opening line above sound like the opening scene from Mission Impossible? I hope so because it was intended that way. A few days ago ASP Suresh flew into Chennai, India, to launch his mission. And his mission is to try to locate PI Bala and deal with him.
Who sent him there? Was it Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak or IGP Musa Hassan? Ah, the police officers from Bukit Aman who report to me did not say. That is because they are not too sure who ASP Suresh is currently reporting to. But if it is IGP Musa Hassan then ASP Suresh will be on official duties and therefore would have been given clearance to leave the country. However, if he is not on official duties and has not been given clearance and is instead on leave, then it is ‘on a frolic of his own’. And this would mean PM Najib sent him to India without IGP Musa’s knowledge.
I am sure if IGP Musa did not send ASP Suresh to India and was in fact kept in the dark about this matter then he would be hitting the roof as soon as he reads this piece. It would be very interesting to see how IGP Musa reacts to this news, which he has had to read in Malaysia Today and was not kept abreast of.
Yes, someone in the corridors of power in Putrajaya is getting extremely nervous. There is this unresolved matter about the recently deposed Special Officer to the Prime Minister, Nasir Safar — who uttered that most racist statement that Chinese immigrants were prostitutes and Indian immigrants beggars — who has now been identified as that mystery man in the blue Proton Saga who was in front of Razak Bgainda’s house the day Sirul and Azilah picked up Altantuya and subsequently murdered her.
But there was one other man also there that day. And that man is private investigator Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal. So they need to get to Bala before the MACC does. If the MACC gets to Bala first and records his statement and he testifies that the man in the blue Proton Saga was Najib’s Special Officer, Nasir Safar, the shit will really hit the fan, if it not already has.
The MACC wants to meet Bala to record his testimony. They said so in their letter to his lawyer. But they want Bala to fly to Singapore and meet them in the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore. That would be a most foolish thing to do. That would be like meeting in Bukit Aman.
Singapore and Malaysia have a ‘special arrangement’. All Malaysia has to do is to request the Singapore police to detain Bala as soon as he touches down in the country and drive him across the Causeway and hand him over to the Malaysian police. They do not even need to apply for a court order or apply for extradition. The Malaysian police just have to request the Singapore police to detain Bala ‘on their behalf’.
This is what the Singapore police did on the Mas Selamat case. They just requested the Malaysian police to detain the wanted man and keep him in Kamunting ‘on behalf of Singapore’. And now Mas Selamat is under Internal Security Act detention in Kamunting although he committed a crime in Singapore and not in Malaysia.
Bala’s lawyer wrote to the MACC to offer to set up a meeting in London. But the MACC did not respond to that letter. They still want to meet in Singapore as per their first letter. So we now have a stalemate. The MACC wants to meet in the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore while Bala’s lawyer insists on meeting in London.
The MACC also inserted other terms and conditions in their letter to Bala’s lawyer. They want all correspondences and communications to be marked RAHSIA. That means it comes under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). And this would also mean if anyone leaks any of these letters and publishes them in Malaysia Today that would be a violation of the OSA and he or she could be arrested and charged.
Furthermore, the MACC wants to meet Bala alone and not in the presence of any lawyers, plus they refuse to allow a video recording of their interview with Bala. Both these conditions have of course been rejected. Bala’s lawyer insists that a team of lawyers be present during the interview and that the interview must be recorded.
Bala will be telling the MACC about ASP Suresh’s role as middleman in the negotiations, the meeting he had with PM Najib’s brother, the threat they made against his family coupled with the offer of RM5 million to buy his silence, and the role played by two of PM Najib’s aids in this entire episode — his ADC Musa Safri and Special Officer Nasir Safar. The MACC, therefore, does not want Bala’s lawyers to be present or a video recording made of the interview since what Bala would be saying would be most damaging indeed to PM Najib and his family.
So now we have a stalemate. Both sides are sticking to their guns. And it looks like the MACC will only be able to interview Bala on his terms and not on the MACC’s terms. So where do they go from here? They can’t drag this matter forever. Sooner or later the MACC will have to explain to the public why they have not yet met Bala to record his statement. And it would appear like the MACC does not want to meet Bala because they fear what Bala will be telling them. And this would certainly not bode well for PM Najib.
And that was when ASP Suresh was sent on his ‘Mission Impossible’ a few days ago. He is to track down Bala and try to persuade him to not meet the MACC. Bala will need money, of course, to disappear for good. ASP Suresh has been authorised to promise Bala a payment of RM5 million, to be paid in monthly instalments of RM50,000. And the monthly commitments will be handled by Rosmah Mansor’s Carpetman cum Bagman cum Toyboy, Deepak Jaikishan.
But they failed to take into consideration some very crucial elements in ensuring the success of this plan. And one of these crucial elements is RPK of Malaysia Today. RPK knows what is going on and his silence can’t be bought. Another very crucial element is Bala himself. They are assuming that Bala is in Chennai and that he can be bought. Oh, and maybe a third crucial element is Bukit Aman. They still have not discovered which police officers in Bukit Aman report to me. So I get to know about ASP Suresh making his trip to Chennai even before he can land in India.
Ooh, I just love this cloak-and-dagger stuff. They are trying to look for me and are trying to find out who my ‘backers’ are when they fail to realise that some of my backers sit in Bukit Aman itself and that they keep me abreast of what transpires on the top floors of the police headquarters even before the plan is launched.
ASP Suresh, have a good holiday in Chennai, eat plenty of Roti Chennai, and go back and tell your masters that you failed to find Bala.
Till we talk again, goodbye ASP Suresh, wherever you are.
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BALA MULA DIBURU
ASP Suresh, jika anda memutuskan untuk menerimanya, misi anda adalah mencari Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal, si penyiasat persendirian di Chennai, India, yang mana anda perlu membungkamnya dengan apa cara sekalipun. Jika anda ditangkap ataupun dikesan, kerajaan Malaysia akan menafikan sebarang kaitan dengan anda. DVD ini akan musnah dengan sendirinya dalam sepuluh saat.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Adakah kata pembuka di atas seakan adegan pembuka dari filem Mission Impossible? Saya harap macam tulah sebab memang tulah yang dimaksudkan. Beberapa hari yang lalu, ASP Suresh bertolak ke Chennai, India bagi memulakan misinya. Misinya adalah mencari Bala dan ‘menjinakkannya’.
Siapa pula yang menghantarnya ke sana? Perdana Menteri Najib Tun Razak ataupun KPN Musa Hassan? Mmm… perkara ni tak pula diberitahu pegawai polis dari Bukit Aman yang menjadi orang dalam saya. Ini kerana mereka sendiri tak pasti siapa ‘bos’ sebenar ASP Suresh sekarang. Tetapi jika orangnya adalah KPN Musa Hassan, maka dah tentu ASP Suresh pergi ke sana atas alasan tugas rasmi, dan diberikan kebenaran untuk meninggalkan negara ini. Namun jika dia tidak ke sana secara rasmi dan tidak pernah diberikan kebenaran untuk ke sana, iaitu dia sebenarnya bercuti, maka dia kini menjalankan misi solo. Ini bererti bahawa PM Najib menghantarnya ke India tanpa pengetahuan KPN Musa.
Saya yakin jika KPN Musa tidak menghantar ASP Suresh ke India, malah tidak diberitahu pun mengenai perkara itu, maka dah tentu dia naik sheikh apabila membaca artikel ni. Tentu menarik sekali melihat reaksi KPN Musa terhadap berita ni, yang mana dia hanya tahu mengenainya selepas membaca Malaysia Today.
Ya, ada orang di tampuk kuasa di Putrajaya yang makin gelabah. Mana taknya, ada masalah yang belum selesai berkenaan bekas Pegawai Khas kepada Perdana Menteri, Nasir Safar – yang mengeluarkan kenyataan bersifat perkauman, iaitu bahawa pendatang awal Cina adalah pelacur, manakala pendatang India pula adalah pengemis – dia kini telah dikenalpasti sebagai lelaki misteri yang memandu Proton Saga biru di depan rumah Razak Bgainda pada hari Sirul dan Azilah menangkap Altantuya dan kemudiannya membunuhnya.
Tetapi ada seorang lagi yang juga berada di situ pada hari itu, iaitu tak lain tak bukan, Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal. Jadi, mereka perlu cepat-cepat mendapatkan Bala sebelum SPRM sempat mengambil keterangannya. Ini kerana jika SPRM dapat mengambil keterangan Bala dan Bala menyatakan bahawa lelaki yang memandu Proton Saga biru itu adalah Nasir Safar (Pegawai Khas Najib ketika itu), maka pecahlah segala tembelang.
SPRM ingin bertemu dengan Bala bagi mengambil keterangannya. Itu kata mereka dalam surat mereka kepada peguamnya. Tetapi mereka ingin berjumpa dengan Bala di Suruhanjaya Tinggi Malaysia di Singapura. Memang bodohlah kalau kita turutkan permintaan tu. Ini kerana berjumpa di situ samalah seperti berjumpa di Bukit Aman.
Sebenarnya, Singapura dan Malaysia mempunyai ‘perjanjian khas’. Senang saja nak tangkap Bala. Malaysia hanya perlu meminta polis Singapura menahan Bala sebaik saja dia mendarat di negara itu dan seterusnya menyeberangi Tambak Johor bagi menyerahkannya kepada polis Malaysia. Malah, perintah mahkamah ataupun ekstradisi tidak perlu dipohon. Polis Malaysia hanya perlu meminta polis Singapura menahan Bala ‘bagi pihak mereka’.
Inilah yang dilakukan polis Singapura bagi menangkap Mas Selamat. Mereka hanya meminta polis Malaysia menangkapnya dan menahannya di Kamunting, yakni ‘bagi pihak Singapura’. Jadi, Mas Selamat kini ditahan di Kamunting di bawah Akta Keselamatan dalam Negeri walaupun dia sebenarnya melakukan jenayah di Singapura dan bukannya di Malaysia.
Dalam surat mereka kepada SPRM, peguam Bala menawarkan untuk mengadakan pertemuan di London. Tetapi SPRM tidak membalas surat itu. Mereka masih ingin bertemu dengan Bala di Singapura, sepertimana yang diminta dalam surat pertama mereka. Jadi, kita sekarang menghadapi jalan buntu. SPRM ingin bertemu di Suruhanjaya Tinggi Malaysia di Singapura, sementara peguam Bala berkeras supaya pertemuan itu diadakan di London.
Selain itu, dalam surat mereka kepada peguam Bala, SPRM juga menyertakan lain-lain terma dan syarat. Antaranya adalah mereka mahu segala surat-menyurat dan perhubungan dicop sebagai “RAHSIA”. Dengan demikian, ia tertakluk di bawah Akta Rahsia Rasmi (OSA). Jadi, jika ada individu mendedahkan kandungan mana-mana surat itu dan memaparkannya di Malaysia Today, maka tindakan itu dianggap menyalahi OSA, dan individu itu boleh ditangkap dan didakwa.
Di samping itu, SPRM ingin bertemu dengan Bala tanpa kehadiran mana-mana peguam, selain enggan membenarkan rakaman video dilakukan bagi sesi pengambilan keterangan Bala itu. Kedua-dua syarat ini ditolak. Peguam Bala berkeras agar sekumpulan peguam hadir semasa sesi berkenaan dan juga sesi itu mesti dirakam.
Bala akan memberitahu SPRM tentang peranan ASP Suresh sebagai orang tengah dalam rundingan tersebut, pertemuannya dengan adik PM Najib, ugutan mereka terhadap keluarganya berserta dengan tawaran RM5 juta sebagai habuan supaya dia tidak mendedahkan sebarang perkara, dan peranan yang dimainkan oleh dua orang kakitangan PM Najib dalam keseluruhan episod itu – ADC-nya Musa Safri dan Pegawai Khasnya, Nasir Safar. Disebabkan itulah maka SPRM tidak mahu peguam Bala hadir semasa sesi itu ataupun sesi itu dirakam. Mana taknya, segala pendedahan Bala akan membawa kesan buruk kepada PM Najib dan keluarganya.
Kini, kita dilanda kebuntuan. Kedua-dua belah pihak enggan berganjak. Nampaknya, SPRM hanya akan dapat mengambil keterangan Bala apabila mereka mengikut syarat-syaratnya, dan bukan syarat-syarat SPRM. Jadi, apa kesudahannya? Perkara ni tak boleh dibiarkan berlarutan. Ini kerana lambat laun, SPRM terpaksa menjelaskan kepada rakyat sebab mereka belum bertemu dengan Bala bagi mengambil keterangannya. Keadaan sekarang menggambarkan bahawa SPRM seakan tidak mahu bertemu dengan Bala lantaran takut dengan pendedahan yang akan dilakukan oleh Bala. Ini tentunya tidak menimbulkan kesan yang baik bagi PM Najib.
Nah, pada saat itulah ASP Suresh dihantar bagi melaksanakan ‘Mission Impossible’ beberapa hari yang lalu. Misinya adalah menjejaki Bala dan cuba memujuknya agar tidak bertemu dengan SPRM. Mmm… untuk menghilang buat selamanya, dah tentu Bala memerlukan wang. Jadi, ASP Suresh telah dibenarkan untuk menjanjikan bayaran berjumlah RM5 juta kepada Bala, yang mana ia akan dibayar secara ansuran, iaitu RM50,000 sebulan. Pembayaran itu akan dibuat oleh Deepak Jaikishan, Penjual Permaidani/Tukang Catut Rosmah Mansor.
Tetapi mereka gagal mempertimbangkan unsur-unsur yang sangat penting dalam memastikan kejayaan rancangan ini. Salah satu dari elemen penting itu adalah RPK dari Malaysia Today. RPK tahu apa yang sedang berlaku dan dia tidak boleh dibeli. Lagi satu unsur yang sangat penting adalah Bala sendiri. Mereka mengandaikan bahawa Bala berada di Chennai dan bahawa dia boleh dibeli. Oh ya, elemen penting yang ketiga adalah Bukit Aman. Sampai sekarang, mereka masih belum tahu identiti orang dalam saya di Bukit Aman. Disebabkan itulah saya tahu tentang misi ASP Suresh ke Chennai sebelum pun dia sempat mendarat di India.
Mmm… saya memang suka benda-benda risikan macam ni. Mereka sedang berusaha mencari saya dan mengenalpasti ‘penaja’ saya, sedangkan sesetengah daripada ‘penaja/pembantu’ saya berada di Bukit Aman sendiri. Merekalah yang memberitahu saya tentang perkembangan terkini di tingkat-tingkat teratas ibu pejabat polis. Malah sebelum sesuatu rancangan dilancarkan, saya dah pun tahu.
Saya ingin mengucapkan selamat bercuti kepada ASP Suresh. Makanlah Roti Chennai banyak-banyak. Kemudian baliklah dan beritahu ketua-ketua kau bahawa kau gagal menjumpai Bala.
Sehingga kita bersembang lagi, selamat tinggal ASP Suresh, di mana jua kau berada.
