Cops to probe RPK’s escape
(Bernama) – Police will investigate claims that fugitive blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin escaped to Thailand from Langkawi, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.
If the claims are true, the editor of the Malaysia Today portal could have secured the cooperation of someone from the neighbouring country.
“I do not have the information about his whereabouts, and there are no immigration records to show where he is or when he left the country.
“This means he might have used other channels (to make his escape),” Hishammuddin told reporters after launching a mobile police station at the Parliament compound here yesterday.
He said this when asked to comment on a report in a Malay daily yesterday that Raja Petra – who went missing after two warrants of arrest were issued against him for not turning up for his sedition trial in April and May last year – possibly escaped to Thailand via Langkawi.
He had been charged with publishing an article alleged to be seditious and slandering Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the Prime Minister’s wife.
Talking about the event, Hishammuddin said 11 mobile police stations had been deployed in crime hotspots in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Penang.
A further 79 of such mobile units would be stationed in other states in stages beginning April.
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RPK ‘fled to Thailand through Langkawi’
(The Star) – MALAYSIA TODAY editor Raja Petra Kamarudin allegedly fled to Thailand through Langkawi, Utusan Malaysia reported.
Former Kedah PKR Youth chief Zamil Ibrahim claimed he had obtained the information from an e-mail, which was believed to be Raja Petra’s.
Zamil said he had managed to get a copy of an email written by Raja Petra to a Doha-based journalist relating how he and his wife, Marina Lee, escaped to Kedah in the dead of night before sailing to Langkawi from a deserted jetty.
The couple then continued their journey by boat the following day and arrived in Phuket where they stayed for a month.
“Raja Petra said they were in Phuket for a month waiting for their passports to be arranged. He bought two tickets to Manchester with money sent by the journalist and arrived there on March 24,” Zamil told Utusan in an interview on Tuesday.
Raja Petra also said he entered Britain legally from Thailand, but he was considered to have left Malaysia illegally.
Zamil said there were many unanswered questions about Raja Petra’s escape as it involved documents other than his passport.
“As I understand it, only the Honorary Royal Thai Consul in Langkawi, Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, can issue travel papers between Malaysia and Thailand.
“Who else is helping Raja Petra get travel documents from Thailand? It is unthinkable that Shazryl would be a part of this,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shazryl denied he had any part in Raja Petra’s escape and swore on Allah’s name that he did not know him.
Raja Petra has been on the run from Malaysian police since last year, after he failed to appear in court for defaming the Prime Minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in an article on his website.
On Dec 30, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan confirmed that Raja Petra was hiding in London.
