OK, RPK Switch Sides But Why Are Everyone Surprise?

 One of the reasons why I’m looking forward to the first day of the New Year was the prospect of bombshells of news, besides the glittering and spectacular fireworks, of course. As predicted, the peaceful short demonstration by young students at UPSI ended with bloods, thanks to the kind hospitality of the professional police. The news however was dwarfed by RPK’s latest bombshells. Instantly RPK, the UK-born Selangor prince, now living in exile in Manchester, invites criticisms from his remaining loyal readers.

Previously, RPK or Raja Petra Kamaruddin, dropped a bombshell just 3-day before the important Sarawak state election, of which his granted interview to the government-controlled TV3 helped cleanse PM Najib Razak, to certain degrees, of the murder allegation of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu. This time, RPK dropped couple of bombshells when he declares “There’s Life after Anwar”, “Anwar morally unfit to become PM”, “Anwar may become irrelevant”, “Frustrated voters will back BN in polls”, not to mention he’s now suddenly 90% confident Anwar was the man in the sex video.

 

Generally, what RPK is telling the opposition and his readers who once worshipped him as the greatest whistleblowers to the government’s dark secrets is this – you can all go fly kites from now onwards because I’ve joined the dark (rich) side of the powerful and corrupt force. And if you think this is not for real but another round of RPK throwing tantrums with some noble hidden plot due to whatever reasons, think again because his pet project MCLM’s president and buddy, Haris Ibrahim, has just quit the movement. But why RPK switch sides?

Actually, the moment he granted his interview to TV3 months ago, knowing very well that the media was a spin master in favour of the present government, and later beat around the bush justifying his acts that TV3 played him out, was thestrongest hint that RPK had indeed sold himself out. With his latest interviews granted to yet another UMNO-controlled newspaper, it only goes to confirm (if you’re not already convince) that he has sold his soul. There’s a saying thateverybody has a price-tag so there’s no different with ordinary RPK, unless he’s not a homo-sapiens.

 

So, how much was RPK paid for switching side? If hard cold cash was indeed transacted, it has to be more than what Perak’s Jelapang Hee-Apa-Nama received. Of course it has to come with freedom to come back to his country and whatnot strings attached. In spite of luxury accomodation in Manchester and so-called happy Christmas vacation on a friend’s boat in Phuket, the sight of not able to come back to taste Nasi Lemak, Teh Tarik (*tongue in cheek*) and whatnot is too much to bear. He may talk big about living luxuriously abroad but the fact remains he’s extremely homesick hence he should be forgiven for his latest action.

Whether he’s fully sponsored by former premier Mahathir Mohamad or white-collar criminal Soh Chee Wen for his relatively easy escape out of Malaysia and thereafter luxury lifestyle abroad is immaterial. If one were to read his articles, his bazooka was trained primarily at former premier Abdullah Badawi and his son-in-law Khairi, and Najib Razak’s wife over the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya, of course. He seldom attack Mahathir or Muhyiddin, let alone Mahathir’s sons. That’s strange because while RPK sees it freaking wrong for Khairi to amass 13 million shares from ECM Libra for RM9.2 million, he doesn’t seems to think it was wrong for Mahathir to use Petronas money to bail out his son’s (Mirzan Mahathir) Konsortium Perkapalan to the tune of RM696 million back in 1998.

 

That was before the success of the opposition in the 2008 general election in denying government’s two-thirds majority. And ever since RPK sailed out of the country in a self-imposed exile, he has been extremely tame. Maybe his “deep throats” who fed him insider information are all flushed out and neutralized. Maybe after much calculation, he concluded it’s more rewarding to be with the government’s camp (despite rampant corruption). Maybe it’s time he thinks he should teach opposition de-facto leader Anwar a lesson he won’t forget. Only RPK knows what his new mission is now after being away from his own country for many moons.

Yes, RPK has an axe to grind particularly after Anwar didn’t listen to RPK’s advice as much as before. So, what better time to throw some punches than now, considering that Najib is likely to call for a snap election after Chinese New Year? After all, RPK admitted less than a month ago that Mahathir is his friend though not comrades of the same struggle; while Anwar is not his friend because the opposition leader didn’t bother to phone him while he was detained. When friendships come into equation of a struggle, it becomes personal and emotional and naturally, Anwar becomes the beast while Mahathir is the virgin-angel; nevermind that corruption, racism, nepotism, cronyism and whatnot flourished under Mahathir’s 22-year rule.

 

Sure, Anwar is not perfect to fill the prime minister position and could even be a gay after all (*grin*). However, as long as he doesn’t run around raping boys and cows, who cares if he become the next prime minister, not that the opposition can form the new government in the first place, judging from the opposition’s chances now. If people prefer a gay instead of a corrupt straight (UMNO) guy as their prime minister, then who is RPK to dictate otherwise? Maybe RPK was adamant that as long as the country couldn’t find Mahatma Gandhi, the present regime should be maintained. Desperate times call for desperate measures so maybe the time was correct for Mahathir to call his buddy RPK for a national service.

But to claim frustrated voters will back BN in the coming polls is an insult to the voters’ intelligence simply because they actually voted against BN for the betterment of the country and not for Anwar alone. And to proclaim that the Chinese voters don’t want Tahrir Square type of change only goes to show RPK is another flip-flop king. Maybe my old memory is failing me but didn’t he write that should bloodshed is required to change the current regime so be it? Heck, RPK may be getting old and senile but the Bersih 2.0 shows when a common cause was put on table, you will see multi-racial demonstrators.

 

Of course, Einstein would come back from grave eager to know RPK’s formula in determining that 90% Anwar was the person in the sex video. Funny that the once “Balls of Steel RPK” didn’t say 99.99% sure it was Anwar. It seems RPK hates Anwar so much that he believes it was perfectly alright for the corrupt UMNO to continue plundering nation’s coffer. For now, nobody can stop RPK from throwing his tantrum because he thinks he should deserve more respect (and phone calls *grin*) from Anwar (and everyone) post-2008 general election.

He claimed he doesn’t care what other people think of him. That’s not true because just like how Mahathir cares how people would perceive him to be after he dies, RPK wants to be known as one of the heroes. Surely Mahathir wants to be known and worshipped like Napoleon Bonaparte, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Deng Xiaoping or even Kim Il-sung but definitely not Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi. Hence it was all about personal grudges and freedom to come back to his own country.

 

And the trade-off was to crush Anwar in his capacity as the most influential political blogger in Malaysia. Actually it was a win-win trade between UMNO and RPK. UMNO can’t do anything to harm RPK further since he was under protection from the Godfather. Likewise, RPK can’t do any more damage to UMNO since he fled the country. So by becoming allies, both benefits from the new partnership. RPK will stop attacking UMNO with passport to come backwithout going behind bars plus some hard cash to go shopping at Bangsar Shopping Centre.

So why are you so surprise with RPK’s latest twist? He has his right to throw tantrum because Anwar didn’t call him while he was detained. He has his right to decide if it’s more rewarding to be with the corrupt regime or otherwise. He has his right to sulk because people treats Anwar as hero while he has to spend years in UK without Nasi Lemak, Teh Tarik, Roti Canai and whatnot(*grin*). And if the prostitute Hee-Apa-Nama was rewarded with tens of million of ringgit for jumping over, definitely RPK has the right to demandmore. After all, which ordinary person can resist the temptation of money, good food and freedom?