‘I did not circulate nude photos’

Fugitive Hilmi denies shaming ex-lover Wong via MMS and Internet postings

KUALA LUMPUR: After three years, fugitive Hilmi Hazimin Malek (pic) has come out in the open to confess he once had a relationship with Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong.

However, he denied circulating pictures of his ex-lover after they parted ways.

Wong was caught sleeping in the nude and pictures of her were spread viamms and the Internet in February 2009, causing her to offer her resignation from PKR. The party, however, refused to let her quit.

Hilmi, 37, who was implicated in the matter, went missing from the country after police sought his help in their investigation of the case.

Interviewed by Malay daily Kosmo! in Batam, Indonesia, where he is being detained on charges of falsifying personal documents, Hilmi said he was not an evil person to resort to distributing such pictures.

“I do not know who is behind this. I only know that my cellphone had long gone missing,” he said when met by reporters of the daily at the local police station in Barelang, Batam, on Monday.

He claimed that many reports in Malaysia on the controversial pictures were untrue and caused a lot of misunderstanding among the public.

Asked why he left the country after the matter surfaced, he said he did not want to be part of the political games arising from the circulation of the pictures.

“I did not flee because of fear ... I just did not want to aggravate the situation.

“Apart from that, I did not want it to be a political circus,” he said, adding that there were people who were spiteful of him.

He also refuted claims that he feared being killed if he returns to Malaysia.

Hilmi said he did not hate his exlover. Rather, he added, he admired Wong as a hardworking politician and prayed for her continued success.

Hoping he would not be implicated in the controversy even though the case is still being investigated, Hilmi said: “I’d like to start life anew.”

On his detention in Batam, he said he shared a cell with eight other detainees and was being investigated by the Indonesian police. He had earlier been questioned by the Immigration authorities.

“I spend most of my time reading history books,” he said, expressing his hope to seek political asylum in Europe.

Meanwhile, Wong’s special officer Brian Yap said his boss had “nothing to add to the media reports.”

“She has nothing to comment on the matter at this juncture,” he said.

Wong had kept mum on the matter ever since Hilmi was detained by the Indonesian authorities early this month.

She was scheduled to attend the World Wetlands Day event last Saturday and the Selangor MATTA Islamic Travel Fair the week before but organisers said she withdrew at the last minute.

Meanwhile, City CID chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ku Chin Wah said police here were still waiting for their Indonesian counterparts to complete their probe.

SAC Ku said they hoped to question Hilmi to shed more light on the case.

“We need to conduct our own investigations regardless of what he had told the tabloid,” he said when contacted by The Star.