There will be no closure on the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu for both Malaysians and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak until there is a thorough probe, said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.

"Altantunya's soul cannot rest in peace and Najib can never enjoy unquestioned respect, credibility and legitimacy from Malaysians and the world unless and until there is a no-holds-barred investigation into Altantunya's murder.

"(It must) address the questions as to the motive for the murder and whether there was any mastermind to the heinous deed," he said in a statement yesterday.

Lim was commenting on Najib's remarks yesterday that the revival of the Altantuya murder is part of a foreign plot to topple him, similar to the toppling of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

Najib pointed out that Saddam was ousted by the United States based on false claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Lim however said Malaysians were smart enough to ask questions about the murder on their own.

"Malaysia does not have a high literacy rate - over 99 percent - for nothing... ordinary Malaysians do not need an international conspiracy to topple the nation's leadership to be asking these questions themselves," he said.

Can of worms reopened

On Friday, Al Jazeera's 101 East current affairs programme revived claims that Najib was linked to the 2006 Altantuya murder.

The murder of the Mongolian remains a mystery as the motive was never established.

Two of then deputy prime minister Najib's bodyguards were convicted for the murder.

Azilah Hadri is awaiting his death sentence while Sirul Umar Azhar has fled to Australia and is now held at Villawood immigration detention centre.

The documentary claimed that Sirul was trying to bargain with those in power over what he knows and he had publicly said he was following orders from his superiors.

He, however, refused to reveal who made the order.

Najib's associate Abdul Razak Baginda was also charged for abetting the murder but was acquitted in 2008. The government, noted the programme, did not appeal the acquittal.

Najib has vehemently denied any links to the murder.