MALAYSIA
New Straits Times-May 31
Fugitive Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos is believed to have fled to Indonesia two days after going missing from the Ampang Specialist Hospital while under police remand.
According to a report by Sinchew, the Sungai Besar Umno division chief absconded on May 27th to the Indonesian island of Pulau Karimun, which is just 10 kilometres off the coast of southwestern Johor.
Pulau Karimun is notorious for its prostitution business and is a popular weekend destination for Malaysians and Singaporeans seeking illicit pleasures, the World of Buzz reported.
When contacted, Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Fadzil Ahmat declined to confirm the report, saying only that police are doing all they can to locate Jamal and have requested he be placed on a blacklist by the Immigration Department.
Authorities are currently seeking an arrest warrant for the Red Shirts leader, who is wanted to facilitate investigations into nine criminal cases.
Jamal was arrested last week and placed under custody for allegedly displaying a firearm in pictures which went viral on social media websites.
On May 25th – the day he went missing from the hospital where he was being treated for a back problem – Jamal was also charged with causing a public nuisance at the Selangor state secretariat building where he had smashed crates of beer with a sledgehammer.
The following day, Jamal communicated through his lawyer that his disappearance was simply a misunderstanding, as he was rushing to make bail before his bank closed.
After a period of being incommunicado, he promised to appear at the Ampang Jaya police headquarters to complete his bail process – but was a no-show.
Instead, he posted a seven-minute video of himself – in what appears to be an oil palm plantation – claiming that there are “hidden hands” instructing the police to target him.
