POLL: Should Muhammad Rizalman be tried in Malaysia or New Zealand?

Yesterday, the media was abuzz when the identity of a Malaysian envoy in New Zealand, who has been accused of sexual assault and burglary there, was revealed.

The High Court at Wellington, in overturning a name suppression order following pressure from New Zealand media, had revealed the man’s identity as Muhammad Rizalman Ismail, a Defence Ministry (Mindef) staff aide who holds the rank of a warrant officer II in the Malaysian High Commission in Wellington.

Thirty-eight-year-old Muhammad Rizalman was charged in a New Zealand court on May 10 with burglary and assault with intent to commit rape, a day after he allegedly followed a 21-year-old woman to her house and attacked her.

However, upon claiming diplomatic immunity, the father-of-three was brought back to Malaysia in the same month.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key had expressed his preference for the diplomat to be tried under New Zealand's law but Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman has insisted for the accused to be investigated here first. A Mindef board of inquiry has been established for the probe.

Following this, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully expressed his satisfaction on the commitment given by the Malaysian authorities that the matter will be dealt with accordingly.