When English is not your mother-tongue

What is even more irritating is that these people are pretending they do not understand what Anwar said (like they are pretending they do not understand what Karpal said). Actually they do understand (like they understand what I too said about my 2008 Statutory Declaration). This is what the Malays would call: bodoh-bodoh sepat (sepat is a fish that hides in the padi fields and pretends to be dead so that no one notices it).

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I quite pity Anwar Ibrahim who has been slammed the whole of last week regarding his alleged statements on Israel and gays. I sort of sympathise with him.

I would certainly whack him as well -- as I have been doing so for almost a year since February last year -- if he did do or say something that I consider wrong. But to slam him on what he did not do or say -- but was based on a twisted news report -- is hitting below the belt. And in this instance I am in support of Anwar.

I suppose what Anwar is being subjected to is the same thing as what Karpal Singh suffered. Karpal questioned the action of His Highness the Sultan or Perak and inferred that it may be ulta vires. It was then reported that Karpal had insulted the Sultan.

I have already written about this earlier. You can read my 21st January 2012 article called The super virus here:http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/46696-the-super-virus

Ultra vires merely means acting beyond your power or authority or what the law allows. That is not an insult. It is a legal opinion. And lawyers are supposed to give legal opinions. It is their job. It is the nature of the beast. It is an insult if they keep quiet when they know the law and should tell us what the law says -- instead of the other way around.

The real insult was to Karpal, not to the Sultan. Karpal was reported to have done something he did not do and now has to face trial because one Malay reporter does not understand English.

And the same is now happening to Anwar. They reported that he said something he did not say and now he is being attacked -- even by his comrade from the opposition. And they want Parliament to debate Anwar’s expression of support for Israel.

Say I was to say: it is no use being honest without also being fair in the distribution of wealth. A non-English speaking Malay reporter then reports: Raja Petra Kamarudin said ‘we need not be honest in the distribution of wealth’.

Then all the Umno-owned newspapers blow the issue up.

I remember also being subjected to this. When I reiterated what I said in my 2008 Statutory Declaration, it was reported that I had retracted what I said in my Statutory Declaration.

Reiterate means to reaffirm, restate or repeat what you said. Retract means to withdraw what you said. But it appears like even a couple of half-drunk Indian lawyers in Selangor Club could not understand this. These lawyers told my friend (another lawyer) that I retracted what I said and admitted to my friend that they never actually read what I said in my 2008 Statutory Declaration but was basing their opinion on what they heard.

And we are talking about senior lawyers mind you, although drunk ones at that.

Actually, even a first-year law student, even a Malay one, can tell you that you can’t retract what you signed in a Statutory Declaration once it has been lodged with the Commissioner of Oaths or the High Court (like what I did). At best you can sign a second Statutory Declaration, like what PI Bala did, and contradict what you said in the first Statutory Declaration. But then you can be charged for a crime and will, without a doubt, be sent to jail (since there is no way to deny what you signed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths).

By the way, the Malaysian police have come to see me to take my statement. And what I said in my statement to the police was exactly the same as what I said in my Statutory Declaration and in my TV3 interview as well. So, I reiterated what I said, yet again.

What is even more irritating is that these people are pretending they do not understand what Anwar said (like they are pretending they do not understand what Karpal said). Actually they do understand (like they understand what I too said about my 2008 Statutory Declaration). This is what the Malays would call: bodoh-bodoh sepat(sepat is a fish that hides in the padi fields and pretends to be dead so that no one notices it).

Anyway, Anwar will have to ride out this controversy, as what Karpal and I too have to do. People will always twist what you said and stubbornly pretend that they do not understand what you really said. Even drunken lawyers in Selangor Club play this bodoh-bodoh sepat game. It is a Malaysian thing, especially amongst the drunks.

At this point you may be asking what is my grudge against lawyers, Indians, drunks or Selangor Club members. Actually no grudge, unless they pretend they are a fish called sepat hiding in the padi fields.

Well, Anwar, all the best! And please tell your PKR people to also not play this same game of bodoh-bodoh sepat. You must agree that it is most irritating.