‘I’m begging Australia’: Bodyguard’s son issues desperate call

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Singapore: The son of a Malaysian bodyguard to prime ministers and kings who is detained in Sydney while facing the death penalty at home has pleaded for Australia to give his father a second chance.

Sirul Azhar Umar, 51, has been held at Villawood immigration detention centre since 2015, when he was arrested by Australian police following his conviction in Malaysia over the slaying of translator and model Altantuyaa Shaariibuu in a forest outside Kuala Lumpur nine years earlier.

Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, who was murdered in Malaysia in 2006 amid allegations of bribery, backmail, treachery and cover-up.

The killing has remained a subject of much suspicion in the Southeast Asian nation because of secrecy about who ordered it, and speculation it was carried out to prevent the 28-year-old victim revealing alleged kickbacks in connection with a Malaysian government submarine deal.

While the Australian government will not send Sirul back as long as he faces the gallows, the abolition of mandatory capital punishment for serious crimes last month has opened up the possibility of him being returned to his homeland. All prisoners on death row can now request a sentence review.

Sirul’s Australian-based son Shukri Azam Bin Sirul Azhar, however, says he and his father have no intention of going back to Malaysia as they fear for Sirul’s life.

Slain model and translator Altantuyaa Shaariibuu, left, and Sirul Azhar Umar

“So you can assassinate him then send clean-up unit to clean without a trace? I know how [the] Malaysia government and police works and we are not stupid for this kind of trap,” he says.

“Whatever happens […] me and my father have made our final decision that we will not be going back or step our foot or finger in Malaysia.”

Shukri, 23, has lived quietly in Australia for almost 10 years, raised by foster parents after becoming estranged from his mother’s side of the family. Sirul, a former police commando was jailed for seven years in Malaysia, then released. He fled to Australia to request political asylum before we was found guilty of the model’s death and sentenced to capital punishment. He was detained by Australian Federal Police on an Interpol notice in 2015.

In a handwritten letter to this masthead which Shukri asked to be published, he implored Australia to reconsider granting political asylum to his father – Sirul had his first bid rejected in 2019.

Shukri Azam Bin Sirul Azhar, the Australian-based son of Sirul Azhar Umar.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal in NSW tossed his application out at the time, unable to determine “that a state-ordered assassination would amount to a political crime”.

Sirul has always maintained he was following commands when he and fellow bodyguard Azilah Hadri abducted a pregnant Altantuyaa, shot her twice in the head and blew up her body with explosives.

Shukri is urging a re-examination of his father’s fate.

“[When] we came to Australia [we] just wanted to start fresh new life that’s all. For the first time in my life I’m begging Australia,” says Shukri, who was only six years old at the time of the murder.

Shukri’s letter about this father.

“Please give my father [a] second chance as we haven’t done anything wrong neither in Malaysia or here in Australia. My father is a strong and humble man, even tho [sic] lots of people inside swear at him or bully him.”

He added in the letter that he had talked publicly about his father’s situation when he was a teenager in 2014 but claimed to have had his Facebook page shut down by the Malaysian government.

He said he was in poor health and owed much to Australia.

“Malaysia is very terrible for not remembering my father’s services. Australia is the one that helped me and my father a lot here,” he said.

“My health is not good, and Australia has helped me with all my medical treatments. I want to thank Australia immensely for helping me with my health and my schooling. My father and I are Malaysians but where is the Malaysian government?”

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak is seeking a royal pardon that would free him from jail for corruption.Credit: Bloomberg

Sirul has never revealed publicly who he claims gave the instruction but has previously offered to tell all if given a full pardon in Malaysia.

He and Azilah, who is on death row in Malaysia, were members of the security details for the then-defence minister Najib Razak at the time of Altantuyaa’s killing. Najib, who went on to become prime minister between 2009 and 2018, has always denied knowing the Mongolian model and having any part in the gruesome crime.

The 69-year-old former leader was in 2022 jailed for 12 years over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal.

He is bidding to receive a royal pardon and his application has become a major political issue recently, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim saying he would be sitting on the pardons board that decided whether to recommend that Najib be freed.

The final call rests with Malaysia’s monarch, King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

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