The Associated Press
Published: March 13, 2009
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: The wife of Malaysia's next prime minister said Friday it is his destiny to lead the country, despite opposition attempts to link him to corruption and murder.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Rosmah Mansor said the attacks on her husband, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, have made the couple more mature and stronger.
Najib is scheduled to take over from current leader Abdullah Ahmad Badawi early next month.
"Let's not do anything unethical to stop it. It is his turn," Rosmah said in her first interview with an international news agency.
If "God says it is his turn, it is his turn," Rosmah added. "That is the thing we all have to accept, because when (Abdullah became leader) ... we believed that it was his time, his destiny and we went on with our lives."
Opposition leaders have tried to link Najib and Rosmah to the killing of a Mongolian woman and accused him of corruption in government deals to buy French submarines and Russian jets. Najib has rejected the accusations.
Asked about the allegations linking them to the killing, Rosmah said she ignores such "mischievous statements from mischievous people."
The opposition contends that Najib was involved in the slaying of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian translator who was having an affair with a close friend of Najib.
Government lawyers say Shaariibuu was shot in October 2006. Her body was then blown up in a forest outside Kuala Lumpur, and only fragments were found.
Prosecutors alleged that Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib's friend, ordered Shaariibuu killed after she started pestering him for money. Abdul Razak was acquitted last October of abetting the slaying.
A court is scheduled to decide next month whether to convict two police officers charged with carrying out the killing.
Rosmah said her tribulations last year, when public suspicions of Najib gained strength because of blogs that carried allegations against him, have made the couple "more mature ... more strong."
"If we had not gone through this, we would not have known what resilience is all about," Rosmah said.
She stressed that her conscience was clear, saying that her own test of character is "whether you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, whether you like yourself or not, whether you have told the truth or not."
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