KUALA LUMPUR: Robert Kandralingam Chelliah, the son of a rubber tapper from Sungei Siput, Perak, hitch-hiked around the world in the late 1950s to get an education before migrating to Perth, Australia, four decades ago.

But never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he would be at the centre of the highly sensitive, politically charged case of Sirul Azhar Umar.

Sirul, 43, the former Malaysian police commando facing a death sentence for the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaaribuu, is being held by Australian authorities at the Villawood detention centre near Sydney since his arrest in Brisbane in January.

The 76-year-old migration agent recently explained to The Malaysian Insider how he became involved in the case.

“There is no mystery behind my involvement and there is nothing clandestine about it, contrary to some reports,” he said in an exclusive interview.

Questions had been raised recently over his involvement in the case, with some quarters asking why Sirul’s lawyers had chosen Chelliah, who is based 4,000km away in Perth, Western Australia, instead of engaging agents closer to where Sirul is being detained, nearer the east coast of the continent.

“I am not a paid agent of the Malaysian government or anyone. I conduct myself absolutely professionally in the best interests of my client, irrespective of my client’s background,” he said.

“I was approached by Sirul’s Malaysian lawyers to help Sirul apply for an Australian protection visa.

“It was a complex case, so I helped the lawyers (Kamrul Hisham and Hasnal Rezua) engage Sydney migration solicitor Christopher Levingstone, who in turn hired me as case manager.”

After Sirul was arrested in Brisbane on Jan 20 on an Interpol red alert and moved to Villawood, Chelliah aired his views on the complexities of the case in an Internet forum.

“I clarified the rights of a convicted person with a death sentence seeking protection in Australia under migration law, and also sent the clarification to lawyers Kamrul and Hasrul,” Chelliah said.

“I was then asked by the lawyers to help. So Christopher, an expert in complex migration cases, and I, with Bahasa Malaysia and cross-cultural advantage, became involved in March.

“I helped to prepare the paperwork for the protection visa, which was lodged in April. Our role was solely to apply for the visa.” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 11, 2015.