Singaporean tabloid’s headline news on cheap hired killers in Malaysia could hurt bilateral ties, says Deputy Home Minister
KUCHING: A Singaporean tabloid story on the availability of hired killers for only RM5,000 in Malaysia has upset Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
When contacted yesterday, Santubong MP Wan Junaidi questioned the motive behind its publication.
He was clearly irked by The New Paper front-page news report on July 31 headlined `Welcome to Malaysia where … Death is Cheap and Staying Alive is Costly’.
The online version of the paper carried the same story, but with a different headline – S$2,000 to hire a killer, S$3,200 to hire security.
It claimed a Singapore Permanent Resident who was shot in Malaysia is now spending S$3,200 per month to hire body guards.
The story quoted a Kuala Lumpur based private investigator, known as Jay, who alleged that “it does not cost much to hire an assassin across the Causeway”.
The 45-year-old founder of a security firm was quoted as saying,
“That’s why almost anybody can afford to hire a hitman. Not only the rich can hire contract killers now.”
The story also cited the assassination of Arab Malaysian Banking Group founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi , 75 , and the shooting of Malaysian Crime Watch Task force chairman R Sri Sanjeevan, 29, who is still in critical situation to back its claim.
“They are making some very negative comments about us. Why are they doing this to us? They should not have done that. Malaysia and Singapore are having a good relationship.
“We don’t say any thing bad about them. What motives do they have in doing this? There must be some agenda behind this,” said Wan Junaidi.
He, however, could not confirm whether what had been reported by The New Paper about cheap to hire killers in Malaysia was factual.
“I can’t verify it. I can’t confirm when I don’t know. I can’t speculate based on assumptions.”
He reiterated that what the paper did could hurt bilateral feelings between Malaysia and Singapore.
“They want Malaysia and Singapore to have a strained relationship. Something fishy is going on here.”
However, Wan Junaidi said the police need not have to investigate whether the allegation was true or establish the identity of the private investigator quoted in the story.
“If we start doing this, we will have to investigate every allegation made on Twitter or Facebook. Then who is going to fight crimes on the street?”
He said the police were still investigating the two cases mentioned in the newspaper.
The New Paper, launched in 1988, claimed to be the second most-read English newspaper in Singapore, after The Straits Times, with a daily average circulation of 90,800.
The Singapore High Commission in Malaysia has yet to make a comment on the tabloid’s story when contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday.