Defence Minister and UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi has said that he would respond tomorrow to allegations made by businessman Deepak Jaikishan on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s family which is also related to the high-profile and long-running Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

It is not Zahid but Najib himself who should be responding in his winding-up speech at the 66th UMNO General Assembly tomorrow, for three reasons.

Firstly, Deepak’s allegations pertain to Najib’s family, that he had paid an undisclosed sum for the premier’s intervention to allow him to come in as a party in a RM100 million defence ministry project in 2005 when Najib was the Defence Minister – stitching a deal with a Selangor UMNO Wanita leader’s company where he would participate as a third party in the project. As Najib is not only around but chief of the pack in UMNO, he should respond as whatever Zahid could say would only be hearsay with neither credibility nor legitimacy.

Secondly, the Deepak connection with the high-profile and long-running Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case. Deepak has expressed regret of his involvement in getting private investigator P Balasubramaniam to make a second Statutory Declaration which reversed an earlier one linking Najib to murdered Mongolian Altantuya. Deepak said in interviews that he got involved in Bala’s case to help “the family of the prime minister”. Again, Zahid’s response to Deepak’s allegation cannot be satisfactory as only Najib is in a position to respond with any credibility.

Thirdly, this is an acid test of Najib’s UMNO Presidential Address yesterday which had asserted that Pakatan Rakyat should not be given a chance to win the 13th General Election as UMNO/Barisan Nasional could boast of great success in governing Malaysia in the past five decades – one of which is the “efficacy of national institutions”.

The sordid Deepak/Bala/Altantuya scandals are shameful testimony, not to success but corruption and subversion, of the “efficacy of national institutions” as Malaysia would not have reached such a sorry pass in the Altantuya murder case if various national institutions, whether the Police, the Judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Malaysian Press had maintained and upheld their integrity, independence and professionalism.

Is Najib prepared to fully vindicate himself, his government and the country by subjecting himself to a full and independent public inquiry into the sordid Deepak/Bala/Altantuya scandals and announce it at the UMNO General Assembly winding-up tomorrow?

If Najib is prepared to submit himself to a full and independent public inquiry into the Deepak/Bala/Altantuya scandals, his apology in his UMNO Presidential Speech on behalf of the UMNO leadership for any “mistake” or “oversight” would be a bona fide one. If not, his “apology” is just mere rhetoric.