The New Straits Times
KUALA LUMPUR: It has been 36 years since the country's top police officer was gunned down in broad daylight, but to date, no one has been tried for the crime.
Some feel the family of Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim, shot dead on June 7, 1974, deserves closure.
Ragunath Kesavan, president of the Malaysian Bar Council, said the family of the late inspector-general of police deserved to know so that they could have a sense of closure.
However, he was unsure how that could be achieved.
"How do you go about reopening such a case? If all the evidence, investigation papers and witnesses could be found, then there might be a possibility."
He also said the indication given by the authorities then was that the same people who assassinated the Perak chief police officer Tan Sri Khoo Chong Kong were involved in Rahman's murder.
"If they were indeed involved in the IGP's murder, they should have been tried for the crime."
Ex-Police Association of Malaysia secretary-general Mohd Hanafiah Abdul Manap said he sympathised with the families of Rahman and Khoo, adding that the association would hold a dinner to commemorate the contributions of great men to the country on July 3.
In an article penned by Rahman's son, Najib Rahman, for the New Sunday Times' "I Remember When" column last week, he said although the two men who were caught for Khoo's murder were implicated in his father's assassination, they were never tried in court for the crime.
To this day, Najib wonders why.
Two gunmen, purportedly communist hitmen, fired automatic pistols at Rahman and his driver, Sgt Omar, who were in a blue Mercedes in Lorong Raja Chulan.
Omar took a nick in the neck, but managed to flee. Rahman was gunned down.
Lawyer Karpal Singh called for fresh investigations into the murder so that it would not remain "an unsolved mystery for all time".
Karpal was the defending lawyer of one of the two men who were tried for the murder of Khoo and his driver, Sgt Yeong Peng Chong, in Ipoh on Nov 13, 1975.
He acted for Lim Woon Chong, a senior member of the Malayan Communist Party Liberation Front, who was found guilty and sentenced to death on March 22, 1978, by the Ipoh High Court.
According to Karpal, his former client's appeal to the Federal Court was summarily dismissed on June 25 the following year and he was hanged in early 1980 in Pudu Jail.
"Lim had also been charged with the assassination of the late IGP but before he was executed, he confided in me that he had nothing to do with it.
"He instructed me to take steps to defer his execution to clear his name in the assassination of the IGP for the simple reason that he did not carry it out. He did not want to die without clearing his name."
He applied to the Kuala Lumpur High Court to have Lim's case called up before his execution on a certificate of urgency. He said the late Tan Sri Harun Hashim, the then High Court judge, called up the case immediately and directed that the trial proceed.
"However, deputy public prosecutor (the late) T.S. Sambanthamurthi withdrew the charge, after which the judge ordered the acquittal of Lim on that charge.
"I have no doubt in my mind that Lim was innocent of the charge of the assassination of the IGP."
So who murdered Rahman in cold blood? Karpal, who is member of parliament for Bukit Gelugor, said he had raised this question several times in Parliament.
"At first, the blame was placed squarely on Lim's shoulders.
"When I pointed out what had happened before judge Harun Hashim, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Datuk Seri) Mohd Nazri Aziz said investigations were still on."
Asked about the case, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said: "This was well before my time. I won't know unless the police show me the file."
Gani's predecessor, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, also said he had no knowledge of the case as he was only head of the Civil Division in the Attorney-General's Chambers at the time.
"I was sent to prosecute the two who were on trial for the murder of the Perak CPO. However, I only remember that one of the accused threw a slipper at the judge. I don't know about the details involving the IGP's case in Kuala Lumpur."
As far as the police is concerned, the case is closed. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said this was because the two men involved were the same ones responsible for the murder of Khoo.
Attempts to get Nazri's comments were not successful.
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