I refer to the Malaysiakini report Abdul Razak: Najib not involved .

It would appear that the statutory declarations (SD) made by Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal (Bala) have generated much interest in the ongoing Altantuya Shaariibu murder trial with theories on the circumstances surrounding this mystery bouncing off the paramentres of cyberspace.

At the end of the day it is a question of perceptions. Let us therefore analyse the situation objectively.

Firstly, let us study in detail the contents of Bala's first SD. When this SD was initially released at a press conference held on the July 3, Bala's counsel, Americk Sidhu was at pains to point out that what Bala was alluding to was not the truth of the contents of his SD but to the fact that those contents were told to him by two persons, ie Razak Baginda and Alytantuya herself.

The knee-jerk reaction to the release of this first SD was to kill the messenger even before the message was read, understood and appreciated. The message was clear. All Bala was saying was that he had been informed of these additional circumstances, he didn't know if they were true or not but he felt they warranted further investigation to either confirm or dismiss them, and this had not been done, even though he had already informed the police about them. It was as simple as that.

It has been said that when the first SD was released, only 50% of the people believed it. When the second SD was released a day later, immediately 100% of the people believed the first SD. If, as had been confirmed by Bala and his counsel, it took two months to prepare the first SD, it appears to be a little strange that the second SD was prepared overnight. This, coupled with the dramatic change in appearance of Bala between the release of the two SD's, further exacerbated the general disbelief that the second SD was made voluntarily.

The question still remains as to who stood to gain most if Bala's second SD was indeed coerced.

The home minister has now confirmed that Bala and his family have been discovered in Bangkok and that the police had recorded a statement from him. The police have also recorded a statement from Razak Baginda shortly after his release and that Bala should expect to be charged with making a false declaration.

What the home minister has failed to inform us of is which SD is Bala going to be charged with falsely making? The first or the second?

If it is the first SD that is false, then why did Razak Baginda, in his press conference held on the Nov 20, not specifically come out and say he had never told Bala any of the information in that first SD? This would have been the crux of the whole press conference as Razak Baginda went to great lengths to inform the world at large that bloggers are the biggest liars and that his friends Najib Abdul Razak and his wife had nothing to do with the Altantuya case, and more so they had never met her.

That may well be the case. No one knows for sure. There is no credible evidence available to link them with the Mongolian girl. Only circumstantial hearsay and cyberspace theories abound. But Razak Baginda could easily have put an end to all this speculation by just saying he did not tell Bala any of what was written in his first SD. He didn't do this. Why?

If we read between the lines of Bala's first SD, it would appear Bala was actually trying to protect Razak Baginda's interests. Remember, Bala was employed as a private investigator for Razak Baginda. Bala was also previously a Special Branch officer who would be expected to have ingrained in his psyche a certain sense of loyalty to his superiors and employers. Even after Altantuya's disappearance, Bala was still at Razak Baginda's house protecting him, not realising she had already been blown up.

Bala appears to have been so obviously concerned that his employer may have been innocent of the charge preferred against him that he could find no other way of assisting other than putting on paper all the events that led to the disappearance of Altantuya in the hope that if he released this to the general public, at least there would be a chance the authorities might look at the case from a different angle as they had ignored him up till then.

Perhaps Razak Baginda, obviously an intelligent man, realised this and that is why he made no mention of Bala and his SD at that press conference.