NOV 8 — Raja Petra Kamarudin’s unexpected release from detention under the Internal Security Act will have an impact beyond his family and band of supporters.
News that he is free and ready to crank up the Malaysia Today website will:
? Cause some unease in the Datuk Seri Najib Razak household and among supporters of the prime-minister-in-waiting.
Why? Because no one has been more persistent and to a degree effective in chipping away at Najib’s credibility with his postings than RPK, as he is known.
His countless allegations on the involvement of Najib and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu created a cottage industry of coverage on the Mongolian model. To the extent that the deputy prime minister was forced to swear in a mosque that he did not know the woman, let alone have an affair with her, as alleged by a private investigator in a statutory declaration which was retracted within 24 hours.
RPK was detained under the ISA for allegedly writing and posting articles which were insulting to Islam and Muslims. The court allowed his habeas corpus application, ruling that his detention was unlawful. While he was in Kamunting, his website lost its zing; Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that he would step down in March; Najib raced to snare the most number of nominations from divisions and become president-elect of Umno and the High Court acquitted Abdul Razak Baginda of abetting in the murder of Altantuya.
Razak, an advisor to Najib, was alleged to have directed two police officers to murder the woman, with whom he had an affair with. It is arguable whether RPK’s missives against Najib will carry the same threat now that the DPM is on the cusp of the top job in Malaysia and his standing in Umno and Barisan Nasional has been fortified. After all, the disclosure of a chain of SMSes with lawyer Datuk Shafee Abdullah, which suggested some form of interference in the probe surrounding the murder did not have much traction on the ground.
Still, it will not be like RPK to put away his notebook or file away his thoughts. Expect the latest wave of attacks against Najib, Umno and the country’s leadership to start soon.
? Cause great excitement in the opposition ranks, especially among supporters of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Pakatan Rakyat lost a valuable ally when Raja Petra was detained under the ISA.
Opposition politicians clung on to the coat tails of many of his exposes and he was willing to publish unvarnished allegations against national leaders, something the mainstream media and news portals were hesitant to do. It was Raja Petra who stunned the country with the statutory declaration of P Balasubramaniam, the investigator engaged by Razak Baginda to keep Altantuya away from him and his family.
The investigator made a series of damaging accusations against Najib, retracted it and then disappeared with his family, some say to India. RPK also alleged that government officials had bloated several defence deals and benefited from it. Opposition politicians seized all these allegations and raised it in Parliament, putting the government under pressure.
Details of the Eurocopter deal were first posted on Malaysia Today before it was picked up by the opposition and mainstream media. The RM1.6 billion deal was recently cancelled by the government because of the economic slowdown but opposition supporters argue that the administration had no choice but to put it on the backburner given the controversy enveloping the purchase of the helicopters.
Anwar and his ilk, who by the day appear resigned to playing the role of a vigilant opposition till the next polls, will be hoping that RPK’s enthusiasm to publish and be damned has not been blunted by his time in Kamunting.
