My New Straits Times and Straits Times (Singapore) interview

You must be smoking something. Let me know what it is so that I can get some. My loyalty from Day One was always with the rakyat: dulu, kini dan selama-lamanya. Now, which part of the word rakyat don’t you understand?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

My interview with Alang Bendahara of New Straits Times

Q1: Why make the revelation now, why didn't you correct the media reports soon after your SD came out two years ago?

Actually the SD was signed three years ago, not two years ago. And it was published the very next day and I was arrested and charged almost immediately.

I have been writing article upon article over the last three years saying that I did not make any allegation about Rosmah Mansor and the two Lt Kols husband and wife. What I said was that an informer had informed me about the matter. By the way, have you read my SD yet? I would suspect not, as many who comment do so without reading it. That is why you said two years instead of three. Or else you would have known it was signed in June 2008.

Anyway, is it my job to correct what the mainstream media intentionally distorts? And did anyone from the mainstream media talk to me? Most of the mainstream media actually covered my trials in 2008 but still they misreported the whole thing.

Are you saying I am to blame for the misdeeds and malicious acts of others? Their job is to whack me and that is what they did. Now, after three years of getting whacked, I am whacking back. Is this not my right?

Anyway, the TV3 interview was done two months ago, not now. People ask me why now, just before the Sarawak elections?

Two months ago there was no confirmation of the Sarawak elections. So when do I do the interview? After the Sarawak elections? Then, after the Sarawak elections, people will say why now, just before the 13th GE? So I wait until after the 13th GE and people will still ask, why now, just before a by-election?

So when should I do this interview? After Malaysia has banned elections?

Q2: Can you comment on Din Merican's denial that he was involved in the attempt to discredit Rosmah and Najib?

Did I say he was involved? I never said that. I just said I had asked him to check with Anwar Ibrahim the background of Lt Kol Azmi Zainal Abidin. And that was what he did. And he admitted this in his Blog posting. So what is the issue? Why accuse me of something I did not do?

Q3: Aside from your Statutory Declaration, do you have any proof of the involvement of the people you mentioned in the attempt to discredit Najib and Rosmah?

What do you mean by proof? Video recordings of them in towels in a hotel room? Define ‘proof’. Anwar was convicted and sentenced to 15 years jail in 1999 based on testimony. Testimony is proof and that was good enough to sentence Anwar to 15 years jail. My testimony is even better. It is in the form of an SD.

Q4: Now talks on the ground is that your sudden revelation is because you want to return to Malaysia. Your comment?

Talks on the ground is that Najib was caught for kalwat in a Port Dickson hotel room. Do you want to ask Najib this? Who cares about talks on the ground? If the government says I am welcome back in Malaysia and I tell the government to go to hell because I love it in the country of my birth, what then are you going to say?

And what ‘sudden revelation’? Have you not heard what I said? I have been repeating this again and again over the last three years. What’s so sudden about saying the same thing over three years? You mean I kept silent the last three years and only today I am talking?

Q5: You have also been accused of shifting attention from the Sarawak election with your latest allegation. Your thoughts.

Shifting attention? You really must improve your communication skills because I don’t understand what you mean. I have also been accused of going to church every Sunday and that my wife and I have left Islam to become Catholics.

Do you really think I care what they say? My interview was done before the announcement of the Sarawak elections. Maybe they held the Sarawak elections to shift attention from my interview since my interview came first.

Q6: Where does your loyalty lie now that you have turned the tables against Anwar and the opposition front?

You must be smoking something. Let me know what it is so that I can get some. My loyalty from Day One was always with the rakyat: dulu, kini dan selama-lamanya. Now, which part of the word rakyat don’t you understand?

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Dear Raja Petra,

We spoke briefly over the phone. I am writing a story on your comments made during the TV3 interview aired on Wednesday night, and also your latest article on Malaysia Today.

I would like to get a few fresh comments from you if possible.

My questions are as follows:

1. When was the TV3 interview, and who requested it? Yourself or TV3? If you had requested it, what was the purpose of the interview? Where was it conducted? Was it edited? Was it accurate?

2. Why did you make that statement in the interview, that you do not believe that Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder. Do you believe now that Najib and/or Rosmah were maligned? Or do you still believe they may have been involved somehow with Altantuya's death?

3. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has tweeted that the TV3 interview is due to the Sarawak elections. Rafizi Ramli said that the meeting at Tengku Razaleigh's place did not mention Najib, Rosmah or Altantuya. Din Merican has denied being involved in the whole thing and said he did not know you were going to sign a statutory declaration. Critics will say that the timing is close to the Sarawak election. And the interview was also aired just a few days after Anwar told reporters to ask Najib about Altantuya's murder. It could look as if your interview is aimed at neutralising this, and helping Najib's position especially in the Sarawak polls. What are your comments?

4. In your latest article on Malaysia Today, you said that the interview was to create a storm so that the police would investigate your SD. Does this mean that you do have doubts over Najib/Rosmah's innocence in the Altantuya murder?

Thank you so much for your time. I would be grateful for a reply today if that is possible.

Regards,
Hazlin Hassan
Malaysia Correspondent
The Straits Times (Singapore)

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Dear Hazlim,

What silly questions. How long have you been a reporter anyway? And have you already seen my entire more than one-hour interview? And do you know when the interview was done? Do you really think that this interview and the Anwar Ibrahim porn video are going to have a bearing on the Sarawak elections? If you do, then you had better ask to be transferred to the food and wine desk because you still have a long way to go to understanding politics.

Raja Petra Kamarudin