Friday, July 20, 2007

Sex and murder scandal casts a political cloud in Malaysia

Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The political future of the man earmarked to be Malaysia's next prime minister is in doubt because of his links to a sensational court case involving the murder of a beautiful young Mongolian translator.

There is already speculation in Kuala Lumpur that deputy prime minister Najib Razak has been forced by the daily courtroom drama to shelve plans to grab his political inheritance early by ousting the lacklustre prime minister, Abdullah Badawi.

Some Malaysian analysts contend the murder of the young woman in October last year has already seriously disturbed Malaysia's power structure because Prime Minister Abdullah, a saintly Islamic scholar with little taste for the rough-and-tumble of politics, has delegated much of the day-to-day administration of the country to his deputy, Najib.

[Read the rest here.]


Oh, oh, here comes that sinking feeling...