COMMENT | Getting away with murder, Malaysian style

COMMENT | The name is Altantuya Shaariibuu. Her name may never make it into school history books, but among Malaysians, this Mongolian woman is almost as well-known as Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan.

Unlike her legendary conquering countrymen, her fame is unfortunately founded on her being the hapless victim in one of the most heinous murders in the nation’s history.

The latest development that has brought this murder most foul back into the headlines is the release of her convicted killer - who now claims his innocence and begging for a second chance to live as a free man in Australia in an interview with Al-Jazeera's 101 East programme, aired on Friday (Nov 24).

Former police officer Sirul Azhar Umar who was sentenced to death, with Azilah Hadri, for killing Altantuya in 2006, was set free from an immigration detention centre in Australia, where he had fled to seek asylum in January 2015.

He was among 90 asylum seekers who were released after an Australian High Court ruled on Nov 8 that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful.

It's been 17 years but this sordid crime remains...