A special task force has been established by the Kuala Lumpur Police to investigate the attempted assassination of two Arakanese politicians last Wednesday, local media reported.
Malaysian state-run news agency Bernama said the city’s Assistant Commissioner of Police Khairi Ahrasa will lead the investigative team, and that he believes that the incident has “elements of political involvement”.
Rakhine National Party (RNP) Chairman Aye Thar Aung and deputy-chair Aye Maung, also a member of Burma’s parliament, narrowly avoided drive-by fire when returning to their hotel during a visit to the Malaysian capital.
The RNP is Arakan state’s dominant political party, which was formed last year by merging the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), previously the two most powerful parties in the coastal state.
The two targeted officials held a press conference in Rangoon last week, where they chronologised the incident and said that the Malaysian police believe that it could have been “related to the violence in Myanmar [Burma]”.
The task force has already begun reviewing CCTV footage, according to Ahrasa, and are also trying to determine whether the incident was related to the fatal shooting of a Burmese national the following day.
Ahrasa told reporters that police were working with the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur to identify the gunmen. The embassy was unavailable for comment.
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