RPK whistling BN tune

Once upon a time, the blogger fiercely supported Anwar but today is doing the reverse. Why?

COMMENT

Exiled controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin is waxing lyrical about the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership, but not before undermining opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat, election watchdog Bersih 2.0 and the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM).

Raja Petra, or popularly known as RPK, had in the past made himself available to the mainstream media – TV3, Utusan Malaysia and, more recently, the New Sunday Times. While Utusan Malaysia is Umno-dominated, both TV3 and NSTP are owned by Media Prima, an Umno ally.

In his latest interview with NST early this month, RPK, among others, condemned Pakatan adviser Anwar Ibrahim. He went at great length to clarify why the Anwar-factor posed more harm than good to the peace of the nation.

In the same interview, RPK urged Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to take the “bull by the horns” in introducing reforms instead of resorting to cosmetic changes.

While RPK is right that there is life after Anwar, the former is correct again when he said that the agenda for change cannot be about personalities per se, citing the case of Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who spent 27 years in jail for his fight against apartheid.

The aftermath of RPK’s latest interview has regrettably done more harm than good, at least to those who had dedicated themselves to the struggle for change.

The damage done: MCLM president Haris Ibrahim quit the movement. Two independent candidates backed by MCLM announced their withdrawal and disassociation from the movement.

The two are National Human Rights Society president, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, and human rights lawyer, Sreekant Pillai.

The trio Haris, Malik and Sreekant cited the recent interviews given by RPK, to selected media as the reason for their abandoning the movement.

In the same interview, RPK, owner of the Malaysia Today portal and chairman of MCLM, declared Anwar “unfit” to be the next prime minister and said the latter was guilty of the sodomy charge involving his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan and expressed certainty that Anwar was the man featured in the sex video.

(Three years ago, Anwar was charged with having sodomised Saiful, then 24, in a condominium unit in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.)

Anwar, however, was discharged and acquitted by the the High Court on Jan 9, 2012, as judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah expressed uncertainty as to whether the DNA evidence had been compromised.

On MCLM, RPK said it would not be fielding any candidates in the 13th general election, a statement that Haris begged to differ saying no such discussion was undertaken by the movement.

Why has the 61-year-old RPK, who “once upon a time” fiercely supported Anwar, is today doing the reverse, playing judge and jury in determining Anwar’s fate, politically, that is?

Not only that, RPK also undermined the “reform agenda” and condemned Bersih 2.0, claiming it harboured political interests.

RPK sold to Najib and co?

RPK has no qualms claiming Anwar is morally unfit to lead Malaysia. But then how different is Najib or his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin? The former is alleged to have had an affair with Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu and said to be involved in the multi-million dollar kickbacks through the sale of the Scorpene submarines during his tenure as defence minister.

Muhyiddin, meanwhile, has made pursuing the Malay agenda his all-time priority, that too at the expense of the non-Malays. Putting self-interest above the welfare of the people is no hallmark of an exemplary leader.

Needless to say, the interviews by RPK to selected mainstream press were “melodious” tunes to the ears of Najib and Barisan Nasional-Umno, who are only too eager to get rid of Pakatan Rakyat, never mind the fact that Najib’s former information chief in his Umno division, Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz, has joined the DAP.

Mohd Ariff, the former Pulau Manis Umno assemblyman, was impressed by DAP’s principles and professionalism, unlike BN which worked best at spreading lies.

“I was with (Lim) Guan Eng at the bloggers’ conference last month. There are no fancy words, they are focused on work… always thinking unlike our Umno people,” Mohd Ariff was quoted by FMT earlier this week as saying.

Still, RPK is very sure the opposition has no chance at helming the nation via Putrajaya. Just how has the Anwar-Pakatan bashing by RPK come to be?

What an irony that RPK, who, through his Malaysia Today columns, once advocated transparency, accountability and justice in the Malaysian political system, has changed his tune, which unfortunately jars on conscientious ears.

In 2008, RPK was charged with sedition for allegedly implying Najib, then deputy premier, had a hand in the killing of Altantuya. The same year RPK in a statutory declaration (SD) alleged that Najib’s flamboyant wife Rosmah Mansor was one of the three individuals who were present at the crime scene where the Mongolian was murdered.

For reasons best known to him, RPK later distanced himself from the SD and in an interview with TV3, said his accusations linking Najib and Rosmah to the murder was information passed on to him by opposition figures.

RPK contradicted himself when earlier on he claimed the allegations in the SD were contained in a military intelligence report received by the then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

MCLM, however, claimed that the interview was heavily edited and spin-doctored in favour of Najib, the timing being perfect in view of the upcoming Sarawak state election then.

MCLM serving RPK’s agenda?
With Haris, Malik and Sreekant disassociating themselves from MCLM, does it give RPK the much-needed space and opportunity to helm the movement “autonomously”, calling the shots as and when he wants to?

Malik later clarified that while he was never a MCLM member, he, however, was committed towards working for the movement to further the reform agenda. He had agreed to contest as an independent candidate as he believed and was satisfied that there was a cause for it.

Malik stressed that his belief that Pakatan Rakyat was pivotal in any campaign reform remains and that he had resolved to contest only when there was no three-cornered fight.

While he does not share RPK’s views which Malik said were entirely personal and not coming from MCLM, the damage has been done.

“Raja Petra had, however, allowed the impression that he spoke on behalf of MCLM and in his capacity as chairman of the movement,” Malik pointed out. “That is regrettable as it is an impression that has undermined the credibility of the MCLM and its efforts.”

“It has also undermined the tremendous efforts of a number of highly committed and selfless individuals in their untiring efforts to develop various civil society initiatives under the banner of MCLM,” Malik wrote in a blog posting on Jan 3.

Ironically, in 2008 it was Malik, who, as RPK’s lawyer, tried to move the blogger’s release in a court hearing after RPK was detained under the Internal Security Act (now defunct) for allegedly “insulting Islam” and publishing articles on Malaysia Today which had tarnished the country’s leadership to the point of causing confusion among the people.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.