Putrajaya to seek Australia’s stand on Sirul

(FMT) – Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he will seek Australia’s stand on the former policeman convicted of Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder when he meets with the country’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this week.

However, he said he would not ask about Sirul Azhar Umar’s extradition to Malaysia.

“I want to know what Australia’s position is on the matter,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Last month, Canberra said Malaysia had not made a formal request for Sirul’s extradition following a news report that one was expected, with the possibility of a fresh trial for Sirul.

Sirul and fellow police officer Azilah Hadri were convicted of Altantuya’s murder in 2006.

Mahathir previously said the government would look into having Sirul’s death sentence reduced to life imprisonment and reopening the 2006 murder case.

Speaking today on the possibility of including the communist struggle in textbooks, he said a thorough understanding of the matter was required before such considerations were made.

“It is not about the communist struggle. First, we need to understand what communism is.

“We don’t want to promote communist ideologies, but we need to understand what they mean. Capitalism, democracy, kleptocracy – all that, we need to understand.”

He also said the government had yet to decide on the shutting down of seven agencies under the finance ministry.

“We are in the midst of rearranging several departments under the respective ministries as we also have new departments set up. We also need to assign tasks to other ministries. 

”Due to this, there may be overlapping responsibilities between ministries and these we need to correct,” he said.