Why I am a loose cannon (UPDATED with BM Translation)

The opposition can’t even take a small slap on the face. I kick Umno and Barisan Nasional in their balls but I give the opposition a small slap. And when I do they scream that I have been bought over by Umno or Najib.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Anwar acts to stem WikiLeak effect on sodomy case

(AFP) – Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim Monday moved to stem the impact on his sodomy trial of US cables released by WikiLeaks claiming he had sex with a male aide in a honey trap set by enemies.

Anwar’s lawyer Sankara Nair told AFP he will file a complaint with the court hearing Anwar’s sodomy case over articles in the local media which could affect the former deputy premier’s ongoing trial.

Most newspapers in the country carried the allegations on their front page with influential Malay daily Utusan Malaysia running a headline stating: “Singapore spy agency verifies sodomy act”.

“Clearly it’s a case of subjudice, it’s hearsay and conjecture, intelligence reports are not based on facts generally, they are based on rumours and I have served in the security services before so I know that the last thing you do is to trust such a report,” said Nair.

“The judge must call up the newspapers and ask them to explain why they wrote the piece and to show their proof.”

“If they can’t do this then they will be cited for contempt,” he added.

“If this is not sinister then it is totally unethical reporting. I have advised my client to file a lawsuit against these papers as well.”

The leaked US state department cables from November 2008 were given to Australia’s Fairfax media group, which reported Sunday the Australian and Singapore intelligence agencies’ assessment of Anwar’s ongoing case.

“The Australians said that Singapore’s intelligence services and (former prime minister) Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA (Office of National Assessments) in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar ‘did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted’,” the cable read.

“ONA assessed, and their Singapore counterparts concurred, ‘it was a set-up job and he probably knew that, but walked into it anyway’,” according to the cable.

Anwar, 63, has vehemently denied sodomising his aide, 25-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, claiming he was the victim of a political conspiracy.

He faces 20 years in prison if found guilty of sodomy, a serious crime in Malaysia.

Human Rights Watch has urged Malaysia to drop the charges against Anwar, condemning the case as a “charade of justice”.

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Back in 2002-2004 when I was managing the party newspaper called Suara Keadilan I would often clash with Anwar Ibrahim and the party leaders. I used to receive memos from Anwar all the way from the Sungai Buloh Prison chiding me about something I had written.

Suara Keadilan is a party newspaper and I therefore should not write anything that is critical of the party or of the opposition. Eventually I was relieved of the task of writing the editorial and that week I published the newspaper with a blank page where the editorial should have been.

That made them even more pissed with me.

It came to a stage where Anwar/PKR and I could no longer see eye-to-eye so I decided to launch Malaysia Today and soon after that — after an incident at the party convention in Ipoh that almost resulted in me coming to blows with Anwar’s security detail — I left Suara Keadilan to focus on Malaysia Today full time.

I am what the PKR leaders call a loose cannon. That is because I not only whack Umno and Barisan Nasional but the opposition as well. And this is what they don’t like.

Of late I have been receiving a lot of hate mail calling me a Trojan horse and saying that I have been bought off and so on. Some of the hate mail is real nasty. Just read the comments on the Internet about what they say about me to get an idea of what I mean.

I seem to be rapidly emerging as the most hated Blogger in Malaysia. Should I take that as a compliment?

But how can I not become the most hated Blogger? For example, read the AFP report above. Many are upset about the Wikileaks report on Anwar. They scream subjudice, hearsay, unfounded rumours, conspiracy, and whatnot. They feel it is unfair or unethical of Wikileaks to publish a report on an issue where the trial is still going on.

I believe in applying the same standards for all. I don’t believe in different standards for different people and moving the goalposts halfway through the game. I have said this before and have been very consistent in saying it.

Many opposition people, however, believe in two different standards — one for the ruling party and one for the opposition. In this case this makes the Pakatan Rakyat people just like the Barisan Nasional people because the Barisan Nasional too believe in the same thing — that there should be one rule for the ruling party and another for the opposition.

Sure, I agree, the trial is still ongoing so we should not comment about a trial that is still ongoing. But since when has the opposition ever respected this rule?

During the Sodomy 1 trial we whacked Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad kaw kaw and said all sorts of things about him in relation to the issue about how he fixed Anwar up. Now in the Sodomy 2 trial we whack Najib Tun Razak and accuse him of also fixing up Anwar.

In fact, Malaysia Today has published so much information about the matter from the meeting Rodzwan had with Saiful in the Concorde Hotel and Dr Osman’s medical notes and whatnot that if the government decided to charge me for contempt of court I would be in jail for a long, long time.

When Malaysia Today leaks secrets and confidential papers about something unfavourable to the government no one screams. And Malaysia Today has done so not only in relation to Anwar’s trial. The Khir Toyo matter, the PKFZ matter, the Rosli Dahlan matter, the Datuk Ramli Yussuf matter, the Tajuddin Ramli matter, the Saiful bonking the DPP matter, the AG bonking his director international affairs matter, etc., all have been exposed in Malaysia Today even as the trials were still proceeding.

No lah, stop crying like a baby. Whoever said that this is a fair fight? Of course it is not a fair fight. Who the hell cares whether the fight is fair or not? Do we not also fight dirty whenever we can get away with it?

Look at the spins from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat about me. Even the mainstream media has written a lot of lies about me. I am in Brisbane. I live in Trinity Court in London. Kalimullah is supporting and financing me. I got drunk and fell into a monsoon drain in London although there are no drains in the whole of London. I am a fugitive although there are no pending charges against me. And so on and so forth.

The fight is dirty. But I don’t cry about it. I just fight back. And when I hit back I hit back harder than they can ever hit me.

The opposition can’t even take a small slap on the face. I kick Umno and Barisan Nasional in their balls but I give the opposition a small slap. And when I do they scream that I have been bought over by Umno or Najib.

Sheesh, macam ni nak memerentah negara kah? Come on! Grow up! Learn how to take what you give others. You know how to whack but you can’t stand getting whacked back.

Today I am considered an enemy of Pakatan Rakyat. But if I bodek Pakatan Rakyat and whack Barisan Nasional then I am a true son of Malaysia, a patriot. This is the way the opposition mind works. And we want them to run this country?

When Wikileaks leaked secrets negative to the government and its leaders you clapped and cheered and said that Wikileaks is a gift from God. Now that the shoe is on the other foot you scream about conspiracy and subjudice.

Tolong lah! Kalau takut kena pukul jangan cari gadoh. Kalau berani gadoh mestilah terima yang kadang-kadang kena pukul balek. Itu baru kita panggil anak jantan.

 

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Kenapa saya semberono

Pihak pembangkang baru kena sikit dah mengada-ngada. Saya belasah UMNO dan Barisan tapi saya hanya menjentik pembangkang. Baru jentik sikit, mereka kata saya dah dibeli oleh UMNO atau Najib.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin
Translated by Si Manis Amni

Antara tahun 2002-2004, iaitu ketika saya menguruskan akhbar Suara Keadilan, saya selalu bertengkar dengan Anwar Ibrahim dan para pemimpin parti. Malah, saya menerima memo daripada Anwar dari Penjara Sungai Buloh, yang menegur saya tentang penulisan saya.

Suara Keadilan adalah akhbar parti dan oleh sebab itu, saya tak harus menulis sebarang perkara yang bersifat kritikal terhadap parti ataupun pembangkang. Saya kemudiannya tidak lagi dibenarkan menulis editorial dan pada minggu itu, saya menerbitkan Suara Keadilan dengan ruangan editorial yang kosong.

Bila saya buat macam tu, lagilah dia orang marah.

Kemuncaknya adalah apabila saya dan Anwar/PKR tidak lagi sehaluan. Jadi, saya memutuskan untuk melancarkan Malaysia Today dan tak lama selepas itu – selepas insiden pada konvensyen parti di Ipoh yang hampir mengakibatkan saya bertumbuk dengan pengawal peribadi Anwar – saya meninggalkan Suara Keadilan bagi mengendalikan Malaysia Today sepenuh masa.

Pemimpin PKR menganggap saya sebagai seorang yang semberono. Ini kerana saya bukan hanya menghentam UMNO dan Barisan Nasional, tapi juga pembangkang. Tu yang dia orang tak suka tu.

Akhir-akhir ini, saya menerima banyak emel, yang mana saya dituduh sebagai Kuda Trojan dan bahawa saya dah dibeli dan sebagainya. Sesetengah daripada emel tu memang dahsyat. Kalau nak dapat gambaran mengenai kedahsyatannya, bacalah komen di Internet tentang apa yang mereka kata tentang saya.

Nampaknya, saya akan muncul sebagai blogger paling dibenci di Malaysia. Haruskah saya menganggap itu sebagai pujian?

Tapi bagaimana mungkin saya tidak menjadi blogger yang paling dibenci? Misalnya, cuba baca laporan AFP di atas. Ramai yang kesal berhubung dengan laporan Wikileaks mengenai Anwar. Mereka berteriak subjudis, desas-desus, khabar angin tak berasas, konspirasi dan lain-lain lagi. Bagi mereka, adalah tidak adil atau tidak beretika di pihak Wikileaks untuk menerbitkan laporan tentang isu yang sedang dibicarakan di mahkamah.

Bagi saya, standard yang sama perlu digunapakai bagi semua pihak. Saya tak percaya pada penggunaan standard yang berbeza untuk setiap orang dan mengalihkan palang gol semasa permainan berlangsung. Inilah pendirian saya selama ini dan saya amat konsisten mengenainya.

Tapi ramai di pihak pembangkang percaya pada penggunaan dua standard yang berbeza – satu untuk parti pemerintah dan satu lagi untuk pembangkang. Kalau macam ni, tak ada bezalah antara Pakatan Rakyat dan Barisan Nasional. Ini kerana Barisan Nasional pun mengambil pendirian yang sama – bahawa perlu ada satu peraturan untuk parti pemerintah dan satu lagi untuk pembangkang.

Ya, saya memang setuju bahawa semasa sesuatu perbicaraan sedang berlangsung, kita tak patut memberi komen tentangnya. Tapi sejak bila pula pembangkang menghormati peraturan ni?

Selama perbicaraan Liwat I, kita menghentam Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad habis-habisan dan kata macam-macam tentangnya, iaitu mengenai cara dia memerangkap Anwar. Sekarang, semasa perbicaraan Liwat II pula, kita menghentam Najib Tun Razak dan juga menuduhnya memerangkap Anwar.

Bahkan, Malaysia Today telah menyiarkan begitu banyak maklumat tentang perkara tu, dari pertemuan antara Rodzwan dan Saiful di Hotel Concorde dan nota perubatan Dr. Osman dan sebagainya. Kalau kerajaan memutuskan untuk mendakwa saya atas kesalahan menghina mahkamah, dah tentu saya akan dipenjarakan buat masa yang lama.

Apabila Malaysia Today mendedahkan rahsia dan dokumen sulit tentang sesuatu yang menjejaskan kedudukan kerajaan, tak ada siapa yang melolong. Malah Malaysia Today telah melakukannya bukan hanya bagi kes Anwar. Isu Khir Toyo, PKFZ, Rosli Dahlan, Datuk Ramli Yussuf, Tajuddin Ramli, hubungan sulit antara Saiful dan DPP, dan antara Peguam Negara dan pengarah hal ehwal antarabangsanya, dll., semuanya telah disiarkan di Malaysia Today semasa perbicaraan sedang berjalan.

Tolonglah, janganlah menangis macam budak kecil. Siapa kata yang ini adalah pertembungan yang adil? Memanglah tak adil. Peduli apa sama ada ia adil ataupun tak? Bukankah kita juga menggunakan taktik kotor apabila berpeluang melakukannya?

Bacalah putar belit dari kedua-dua Barisan Nasional dan Pakatan Rakyat tentang saya. Bahkan media perdana pun telah menulis banyak pembohongan tentang diri saya. Oh, kononnya saya di Brisbane. Saya tinggal di Trinity Court di London. Kalimullah membiayai segala perbelanjaan saya. Saya mabuk dan jatuh ke dalam longkang di London, sedangkan tak ada longkang pun di London. Saya seorang pelarian walaupun tiada pertuduhan yang tertunda terhadap saya. Dan macam-macam lagi.

Ya, memang ini satu pertembungan yang ‘kotor’. Tapi saya tak merengek tentangnya. Saya hanya lawan balik dan apabila saya pukul balik, saya pukul lebih kuat daripada sebarang pukulan yang dapat mereka lontarkan kepada saya.

Pihak pembangkang baru kena sikit dah mengada-ngada. Saya belasah UMNO dan Barisan tapi saya hanya menjentik pembangkang. Baru jentik sikit, mereka kata saya dah dibeli oleh UMNO atau Najib.

Macam ni nak memerentah negara kah? Macam budak kecil! Kalau bersedia menghentam, bersedialah juga untuk dihentam. Anda semua hanya tahu membelasah tapi tak tahan dibelasah.

Hari ini, saya dianggap sebagai musuh Pakatan Rakyat. Tapi kalau saya membodek Pakatan Rakyat dan menghentam Barisan Nasional, maka saya dianggap sebagai anak Malaysia yang sejati, seorang patriot. Inilah cara pembangkang berfikir. Betul ke kita nak puak ni memerintah negara?

Apabila Wikileaks membocorkan rahsia yang mendatangkan kesan negatif kepada kerajaan dan para pemimpinnya, anda bertepuk tangan dan bersorak-sorai, dan mengatakan bahawa Wikileaks adalah kurniaan dari Tuhan. Sekarang apabila anda pula yang terkena, anda menuduh bahawa berlaku konspirasi dan subjudis.

Tolong lah! Kalau takut kena pukul jangan cari gadoh. Kalau berani gadoh mestilah terima yang kadang-kadang kena pukul balek. Itu baru kita panggil anak jantan.