Frank Pangallo, a member of the parliament’s legislative council, also questioned the prosecutors in Penang who only instructed for an inquest on Oct 14 this year, three years after Jenkins went missing.
He also questioned the Malaysian police’s classification and wrapping up of the case as sudden death and ruling out any criminal elements in August, when the police told the Jenkins family that more parties needed to be questioned.
“Of course, they could not (find any criminal elements) because, by the time they reacted, the evidence and any potential witnesses had all but vanished.
“There was little chance of gathering useful intelligence. Yet, the case was classified as a sudden death report and the police said it found no signs of foul play in the case.
“It is hard to comprehend or believe,” Pangallo said in the winding-up debate on his motion to compel the Australian government to intervene in Jenkins’ matter, among other requests.
Pangallo also found Penang police chief Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain’s conduct on the case unacceptable.
The first was Shuhaily’s claim that he was not qualified to comment on why DNA tests of Jenkins’ remains took over a year to arrive. The other was a remark by the state police chief inviting Australians to share their experiences on such a case “since it was an advanced country”.
“All I can say is this is a poor excuse for their ineptitude,” he said, adding he has written to the Australian Federal Police and Interpol to intervene since the Malaysian police did not have enough resources.
Shuhaily had previously told reporters in Penang that it was beyond his scope of the duty to say why government chemists took over a year to revert with DNA results.
He also welcomed detractors, including Pangallo, to work with the police on the case.
Pangallo also asked the South Australian parliament to look into a comment made by activist Rama Ramanathan in FMT, who had said the Malaysian police was not competent in probing disappearance cases, based on the findings of a local human rights group, Suhakam.
He also called out the Australian government for staying silent on this issue until the Jenkins’ family’s plight was carried on the front page of The Australian newspaper.
Pangallo’s motion, which calls the Australian government to intervene by writing to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the prime minister, was passed unanimously by the state parliament’s upper house.
Parit Buntar-born Jenkins, fondly known as Anna, had been in Penang on a short holiday with her husband Frank.
Her remains were found at an under-construction housing project in Batu Gantong on June 24 last year, 3km away from where she was last seen alighting from an Uber ride at Scotland Road in December 2017.