ESQUIRE: Raja Petra Kamarudin
In our October Rule-Breaking Issue, we talk to a man who is no stranger to pushing the boundaries. Ever since he started his controversial website Malaysia Today, blogger and activist Raja Petra Kamarudin has butt heads with the law, law-makers, and even the law-makers’ greatest critics. We sat down (over Skype, as he, at the time of the interview, was in Manchester, England) and chatted with RPK about his views on Malaysia, bullying, and stirring trouble. Here are seven choice quotes:
I attended an English school from standards one to five and a Malayan school in standard six. But in form one, I went to an all-Malay school and I knew what hell was like. Imagine the bullying: I was Malay, royalty and didn’t speak a damn word of Malay. I didn’t last. To me, it wasn’t a school—it was a prison sentence. I think that’s why after I was detained and sent to Kamunting, I didn’t find it so bad because I had already served two years in Kuala Kangsar.
I had a job for two years but I didn’t have the discipline to work because I can’t obey rules.
I support the opposition’s cause but that doesn’t mean I support the opposition. Supporting the opposition’s cause is very different from supporting the opposition. If I support democracy, it doesn’t mean I support America. I can be anti-America yet pro-democracy. This is what the opposition doesn’t understand. They think if we accept something, it has to be lock, stock and barrel.
Malaysians have become a lazy bunch of people. When it involves checking the facts or doing some research, that’s too much bloody work. And that’s how we seem to make our decisions, whether it’s decisions of religion, investing or which government we should vote for. We follow the gang. If the gang says we do it, we do it. But can the gang explain why?
I just want to be eccentric, to do and say crazy things. People wouldn’t normally write the things that I write—but I will. So, you will have an opinion of me: love me or hate me. There’s nothing in between. But at the end of the day, I would have made my mark on you.
I provoke to see how you think and to prove to you that you’re unable to think. So, if you want to debate me, you better do some research. Learn how to articulate your ideas, then come back and let’s debate.
