RPK applies for passport to return home

He wants to return so that he can help Nurul Izzah in her election campaign. 

(FMT) – Raja Petra Kamarudin, the editor of Malaysia Today, is in contact with the Malaysian High Commission in London to inquire into the possibility of getting his Malaysian passport renewed.

Raja Petra, who left Malaysia in February 2009 just six months before his passport expired, has been living in Manchester ever since.

Raja Petra, popularly known as RPK, had been banned from leaving the country and to avoid getting detained at the immigration exit he left the country illegally without going through the proper channel. He then entered Thailand and from there went over to the UK.

Raja Petra intends to return to Malaysia to join PKR vice-president and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s campaign team.

Nurul Izzah is expected to face a tough fight against Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, the Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister.

Recently, Malaysia Today launched a fund-raising drive for Nurul with more than RM35,365.00 collected so far

Since early 2011, Raja Petra has been very critical of Pakatan Rakyat, in particular PKR and Anwar Ibrahim.

His move to join Nurul’s campaign team is thus viewed as quite a surprise although Raja Petra has always expressed support for Nurul even when he was critical of her father, Anwar.

In an immediate response, Immigration Department Director-General Alias Ahmad said there were no problems with Raja Petra’s return, as long as the latter had the necessary travel documents.

“As long as he has Malaysian travel documents, there are no problems for him to come back,” he told FMT.

He added that the blogger’s passport could be renewed by the Malaysian High Commission in London.