RPK: WOULD LIKE TO SIT WITH KHAIRY, HAVE A DRINK AND SMOKE ... - malaysiakini

by Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 – Despite being unlawfully detained under the Internal Security Act for two months, Raja Petra Kamarudin is in a gracious mood.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insider just a day after his release was ordered by Shah Alam High Court Judge Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad, he said that he “would like to sit with Khairy, have a drink and smoke some cigars” and “be honoured if Najib invited me for tea.”

Raja Petra is facing an ongoing charge of sedition for alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was involved in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu and a further criminal defamation charge for accusing Najib’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, of being present during Shaariibuu’s murder.

Khairy Jamaluddin, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi’s son-in-law, was extensively attacked in Malaysia Today, the portal which Raja Petra heads, in a 2005 series called “The Khairy Chronicles” which catapulted the website to infamy.

“I do not dislike him, in fact I like him,” he said of Najib.

“His father was one of the most famous MCKK alumni. Tun Razak was always the first name when listing out prominent old boys,” Raja Petra recalled of Malaysia’s second Prime Minister from his schooling days.

“I get along well with his brothers. In fact, I think Najib has charisma, but he’s Umno and I am anti-Umno.

“If he invites me for tea, I would be honoured,” he said earnestly.

“I suppose I don’t blame him but its my job to whack him. If not, I fail at my duty,” he said of the widely accepted understanding that his Sept 12 ISA detention resulted from his persistent attacks on

Najib – which Raja Petra insists are not “personal or spiteful” – rather than the stated claim that he was insulting Islam with his writings.

“Khairy seems intelligent,” he said of the Rembau MP.

“I have never met him face to face but I would like to sit with him, have a drink, smoke some cigars and tell him to go push for it and I will support,” he said of Khairy’s recent wish to meet the opposition to find a bipartisan solution to the ISA.

He said that he is friends with many figures whom he opposed politically, including former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

“I have written nasty things about Mahathir but now I go to his house to kiss his hand. When I was detained, he was concerned and called me to see how I was and if I would be held in jail,” he claimed.

“We need a level of maturity which is beginning to show but we are not there yet,” he added.
The 58-year-old blogger also insisted that he has tried to be fair to all: “I criticise DAP, PKR, Pas and even Zulkifli Noordin I have told off to leave the party,” he said of the PKR Kulim Bandar Baharu MP who has persistently taken an intolerant Islamic stance.

“Even Anwar felt I was too harsh on him but he has begun to accept that I shoot anything that moves,” he said, referring to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

On his release, he said that he was confident that his chances were better than 50-50 after his lawyers had shown him the case papers although he admitted at first it was a more pessimistic “30-70.”

Giving credit to his legal team, he also said that he had “a good feeling that Abdullah would not get involved.”

“He is going to hand over, how does it serve him to keep me in Kamunting? He has no reason to interfere, and he has said he will not interfere and I believe he means it,” Raja Petra said, referring to Abdullah’s imminent hand over of his Premiership to Najib after Umno’s March party polls.

He also spoke of his belief that the judiciary has begun its rehabilitation. Coupled with the failure of the prosecution to bring Anwar’s sodomy trial to the High Court, he said that the judiciary is showing that it can be independent again.

“With the ex-gratia, the government did not admit it was wrong or say sorry but this is almost like saying sorry, an unofficial apology,” he said of the monies paid out to the six Supreme Court judges sacked in the 1988 judicial crisis.

“This is already part of a rehabilitation process and now they can be independent again and know that they wont be transferred to Sabah or not get promoted for ruling based on the merits of a case,” he stated.

Raja Petra also agreed that the time is ripe for such changes as Malaysians are beginning to accept that an independent judiciary is a top priority.

“South Africa, with its apartheid and the detention of Nelson Mandela for 27 years, takes the cake as the country with the worst human rights record outside of genocide. But it abolished its own version of ISA and now has a Bill of Rights. What a U-turn,” Raja Petra exclaimed.

He also related how in India and Pakistan, violence such as bombings and shootings were rife but their judiciary systems “are the most respected in our region.”

“But our Special Branch says. ‘Yes we have ISA but we don’t shoot you middle of the night and dump you in a river. That is like saying I only rape you but don’t murder you,” Raja Petra reasoned.

“Can you imagine Dr Mohamed Osman Hamid, ran from Malaysia to the ‘safety of Myanmar?’ That’s unbelievable. Can’t the government see?” he said incredulously, referring to the doctor who allegedly found no trace of anal penetration of Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Anwar’s sodomy accuser.

For the near future, he knows he is “not out of the woods yet” as he faces a sedition and a criminal defamation trial.

He also referred to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s statement that the government may appeal the ISA ruling to a higher court.

“But if he appeals to a higher court, it might decide to rule on more points in our favour. So it is double or nothing. They might put me back in jail or it might open a Pandora’s Box and set a precedent for other detainess like the Hindraf 5 to be released,” he said with a hint of glee.

But he insisted that putting him back in Kamunting would not bury the matter of Altantuya for Najib.

“Malaysia Today will go on with or without me,” he said, explaining that there was already a full management team based overseas.

“For two months, articles were updated. People were wondering if it could really be me writing from Kamunting. I bet Bukit Aman would like to know.

“There were six to seven articles with my trademark. But it will remain a mystery for now, at least for as long as the present government remains in power. But of course, I was writing from Kamunting,” he claimed.

However, Raja Petra stressed that the only way Najib could clear his name was by ensuring the trial is conducted fairly.

He also talked about his time in Kamunting with candour, calling the physical discomfort terrible due to sleeping conditions, the stifling heat with no electric fan for relief and weight loss due to the quality of food.

“They don’t beat you up but the psychological aspect of being separated from my wife was the most unbearable part. We could only meet for 45 minutes a week and it went by so quickly and I would think, ‘Now I have to wait another week to see her?’ ” -- TMI