Sex and Murder: Umno uses Utusan and RPK to smear Eli Wong and PKR

It looks like Umno and its media are now back to their favorite gutter politicking again. When Berita Harian ran an obscure news report last week about a man alleged to be the former boyfriend of Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong, pundits were suspicious.

Their speculation was confirmed when Umno's latest purchase, fallen blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, accused PKR leaders of having a hand in the alleged murder of Patrick Wong, a former Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) president, because he was uncovering sand theft in Selangor.

"A blind person can piece it together. Sex and murder, these are Umno's favorite weapons and it goes back all the way back to the BMF scandal. We are not worried because by now RPK is just like Utusan and Berita Harian. They have no credibility at all to speak of," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"As for Eli, what issue is there to rake up except to create bad publicity for her. Hilmi tried to defame her once but failed. Whether or not his money has run out or as the speculation now goes, Umno has asked him to 'get caught' so that they can highlight it in their newspapers, we will know when he comes back. You can be sure, they will make a hoo-ha over it. But Eli's constituents know her. She works hard and keeps close to them."

Shenanigans and bad 'uns

According to Tian, the latest "spin" on Eli plus the RPK murder "shenanigan" only confirms the public perception that Umno, RPK and Utusan are the bad hats they are accused of being.

"As for Patrick Wong, it is strange that a former MBAM president would volunteer to play private eye to an exiled blogger! Whatever it is, let them do their worst gutter politicking, we won't be swayed in exposing Umno and BN corruption - the NFC, the Proton deal, the West Coast Highway, 1Care and of course Raja Nong Chik's RM1.5bil housing loan scheme," said Tian.

Indeed, after slowly testing the waters, the Umno Malay papers have front-paged the news that Hilmi Malek - wanted for questioning in connection with posting photos of Eli asleep and scantily-clad - had been detained in Indonesia.

According to Utusan, Kuala Lumpur police have received confirmation of the man’s identity from the Indonesian authorities. They said that Hilmi was still being investigated by the Indonesian police for alleged offenses committed there.

“Indonesian authorities have asked for some more time to complete their investigation into claims brought against the man. We will work with Indonesian authorities to assist in any further investigation,” said KL CID chief Ku Chin Wah.

Paid to get detained?

According to news reports out of Indonesia, Hilmi told them that his stay had been funded by his family as well as PKR. “I chose to stay in Indonesia even though my visa had ended because my family in Malaysia and the PKR leadership urged me to change in Indonesia. My safety is not ensured in Malaysia as a result of threats made against me by Malaysian leaders who may use me as a pawn or political tool for the authorities,” was the word-perfect and slick response Hilmi gave to the Indonesian immigration.

However, PKR leaders denied this, pointing out that when Hilmi uploaded the pictures of Elizabeth, the Malaysian police had found her not guilty of any crime, saying it was a personal matter. It was Hilmi who was reviled and accused by the Malaysian public for taking money to upload the photos. Elizabeth has made no bones of the fact that he had previously been her boyfriend.

The history-making FOI ADUN

Eli was so harassed at that time that she quit her post but the resignations were rejected. Former Umno MB Khir Toyo, now convicted of corruption, was accused of masterminding the smear campaign against Elizabeth. It failed and instead boosted her political position as more than 20,000 Selangorians signed a petition to the Sultan, urging him not to accept her resignation.

Since then, Eli has been a thorn in the flesh of Selangor Umno. A dedicated human rights activist, she is responsible for pushing through the Freedom of Information Bill, the first-ever transparency law in Malaysia. It paves the way for declassification of shady government contracts, asset declarations of government officials and not only embarrasses but poses a real threat to Umno officials, as their corrupt ways will be numbered due to the FOI's requirements.

Borrowing from the TBH murder script?

As for sand theft, Umno officials have long been accused of swiping billions form this activity for decades, despite former premier Mahathir Mohamad labeling it as the worst betrayal of the country. The murder angle also mimics the Teoh Beng Hock death fall at the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission in 2009. Till today, his family say it is murder.

Selangor Pakatan leaders have accused Khir and his cohorts of using the MACC to extract a false confession from Teoh so as to implicate the Pakatan state government in a massive corruption scandal. But the interrogation and torture went awry, resulting in Teoh plunging to his death from the 14th floor of the Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam.

In Patrick Wong's case, police said he fell to his death in his Bangsar home when fleeing from burglars. Nonetheless, citing “deep throats” in the police and underworld crime syndicates as confirming that “it was not a robbery; it was an assassination ‘related to some business matters’, RPK pointed the finger at PKR, a party in which he was once close too before he jumped ship. Patrick Wong

“The fact that he was murdered (and that the police are covering up this fact) at the time he was working on getting the evidence I needed makes me want to suspect that a lot of money has changed hands to make this murder appear like an ‘innocent’ robbery gone wrong,” he said.

Not surprisingly, RPK's blog post was picked up by the Umno-controlled press Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia,followed by the English dailies and portals.

"This is part of the cyber warfare promised by Najib Razak in the runup to GE-13. The use of RPK, Utusan and Star, not to mention the TV stations to smear and bombard the Pakatan all the way to GE-13. But we will survive, one way or another light always triumphs over darkness," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

More media chicanery to mask UMNO infighting

Jui Meng was referring to a RM10 million allocation recently announced by Najib to win over cyber-space. The expenditure was panned and is believed to have cost many folds more.

Najib's media adviser is believed to be Petronas director Omar Mustapha, who recently hit a brick wall when Sarawak Report exposed how the Najib administration had bribed foreign consultants including UK's FBC Media to run 'doctored' news about Najib in order to portray a positive but false image of his leadership.

"They are stepping on the gas, that's for sure. But we won't stop the exposures," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle, referring to the RM250million NFC financial debacle involving the Umno elite from Women's minister Shahrizat Jalil, to Muhyiddin Yassin, the deputy premier, all the way up to Prime Minister Najib Razak himself and his protege Raja Nong Chik.

Malaysia Chronicle