What me worry? (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)

Alfred E. Neumann then talks about my loyalty. He did not, however, talk about loyalty to whom. In Judas’ case it was loyalty to Jesus that came into question. Hence, again, who is the ‘Jesus’ meant in Alfred E. Neumann’s analogy? Loyalty has to be to a person, country, cause, organisation, etc. And if I have been disloyal then Alfred E. Neumann has to make clear to whom or to what I have been disloyal.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Everyone has a price, eh Pete? — Alfred E. Neumann

Thirty pieces of silver was all it took for Judas to betray Jesus Christ. One can only wonder the price for Raja Petra Kamarudin’s loyalty. Or is he priceless and can’t be bought?

The blogger-on-the-run who delighted us with many tales has published links to a video-clip, ostensibly showing how famed jewellers Jacob & Co have denied that they sold a RM24 million ring to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

The First Lady has already denied the allegations in her book. So why the need to reinforce that denial? Pro-Umno bloggers and cybertroopers have been doing the denial for the past two years and now the famous or is it infamous RPK has joined that bandwagon.

One can only wonder why it took Jacob & Co almost two years to actually deny this tale. Or that someone took great pains to get their representative on camera to deny the allegations that have been swirling the past couple of years.

One has to be careful with Jacob & Co. They were linked to the Detroit Black Mafia in 2006 for suspected money laundering, according to Vanity Fair.

Can we take their word then that there wasn’t a sale? Why even bother unless it is an issue for the general elections.

So much an issue of the haves and have-nots that the Barisan Nasional (BN) thinks are eager for another round of cash handouts.

So much an issue that RPK had to show us the links to the Jacob & Co video-clip that was only uploaded yesterday showing a man clearly ill at ease about denying a sale.

So much an issue that a lot of energy, effort and money has gone into denying the sale.

Fine, there was no sale and a denial was issued two years later. We believe you, Jacob & Co. And thank you, RPK, for reporting the video-clip.

The issue has been settled then, no pricy diamond rings bought by VIPs at a time when we were told to tighten our belts. No sirree, no.

We’ll take your word for it then, while others take their share of pieces of silver.

Alfred E. Neumann reads The Malaysian Insider.

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Alfred E. Neuman is my favourite Mad character — famous for his saying ‘What me worry?’ The Mad Alfred E. Neuman, however, has only one ‘n’ in his name, while the other Alfred E. Neumann — who wrote the letter above to The Malaysian Insider — has two ‘n’s in his name.

Alfred E. Neumann of The Malaysian Insider started off by saying that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. I don’t know where Alfred E. Neumann got that story from, which some may regard as folklore. In the first place, did Judas and Jesus even exist? Alfred E. Neumann did not offer any evidence of their existence so we have to assume that he is the propagator of folklore and fairy tales.

In fact, some even say that Judas did not betray Jesus but that it was a conspiracy between Judas and Jesus. It seems Jesus was meant to die for the sins of mankind. That was part of God’s grand design. And it seems, also, Judas, being one of the conspirators, was informed of this. Hence Judas played along with the wayang and ‘sold out’ Jesus so that Jesus could die, as what God had planned from the very beginning.

Hence did Judas really betray Jesus or was Judas one of the actors in the wayang that God had planned? Were Judas and Jesus both fellow conspirators in this little conspiracy hatched by God? We must understand that Christianity was founded on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Without the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Christianity would not exist. Hence Jesus had to die and Judas had to ‘betray’ Jesus for that plan to succeed.

Anyway, if Alfred E. Neumann is using the analogy of Judas to describe me, who is ‘Jesus’ supposed to be? Is it Anwar Ibrahim? For there to be a Judas, there must also be a Jesus. So I am very curious to know who this ‘Jesus’ is. I can only assume that Alfred E. Neumann means that Anwar Ibrahim is Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy Spirit, and all that nonsense.

Alfred E. Neumann then talks about my loyalty. He did not, however, talk about loyalty to whom. In Judas’ case it was loyalty to Jesus that came into question. Hence, again, who is the ‘Jesus’ meant in Alfred E. Neumann’s analogy? Loyalty has to be to a person, country, cause, organisation, etc. And if I have been disloyal then Alfred E. Neumann has to make clear to whom or to what I have been disloyal.

I used to be a member of PKR. I never became a member of DAP or PAS because you cannot be a member of two political parties. I also used to work for PKR’s newspaper until 2004, after which I left to manage Malaysia Today fulltime. I never renewed my membership in PKR since 2001.

Hence Alfred E. Neumann cannot mean I am disloyal to PKR, DAP or PAS. I am not a member of any of those parties. I am, however, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party in the UK and I voted for them in the last general election (I became a LibDem member before the general election). And I am still a LibDem member until today.

Now, LibDem is a coalition member in the present ruling government. In the most recent by-election in Eastleigh, LibDem competed against its coalition partner, Conservative, and won that by-election. In fact, 14 political parties in total contested in that by-election.

Hence LibDem and its coalition partner, Conservative, fought against each other. And LibDem defeated its coalition partner. But that is not seen as a betrayal. It is considered quite normal and acceptable. It is just like PKR and PAS or PKR and DAP competing against each other in the elections.

So you see, your interpretation of betrayal is not the same as my interpretation of betrayal. To you, PKR and PAS or PKR and DAP contesting against each other is considered a betrayal. To me, LibDem competing against Conservative is not a betrayal but democracy being practiced.

My loyalty would be to the voters, not to Anwar Ibrahim, PKR, DAP or PAS. If I were to lie to the voters, that would be a betrayal. Hence when I received a video that explained what really happened regarding the diamond ring controversy, it is my duty to reveal this to the voters.

The thing is, I may not personally like Rosmah Mansor. However, booklets are being distributed alleging that Rosmah bought a diamond ring when actually she did not. In fact, the story of her buying the ring came out after the ring had been sent back to the US.

My loyalty is to the truth. And the truth is the ring was sent to Malaysia and was later sent back to the US. Then, after it was sent back, the story emerged. My job is merely to reveal what the people who had sent the ring to Malaysia have to say about the whole episode. And this I have done. Hence I have not betrayed the voters or the truth.

Of course, many people are not going to believe this story. That is to be expected — as many people too do not believe the story of the 30 pieces of silver and of Judas betraying Jesus or even the story of the existence of Judas and Jesus.

In the end, you believe what you want to believe if you think that believing so will guarantee you a place in heaven.

If I had revealed a video of Jacob and Co. confirming that the ring had been sent to Rosmah because she wanted to buy it would Alfred E. Neumann call me a Judas and question my loyalty? Of course not! Instead he would call me Jesus rather than Judas.

That is what this whole thing is really about.

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什麽，我在擔心？

Alfred E. Neumann 之後談及的是我的忠誠，但他沒有講到是我對誰的忠誠。我們知道猶大效忠的人是耶穌， Alfred E. Neumann 把我當成猶大的話，那就必須得有個耶穌。忠誠是對個人，國家，理念，社團。。。。等等的，Alfred E. Neumann必需闡明我所效忠的對象。

原文：Raja Petra Kamarudin

译文：方宙

Alfred E. Neuman 是我在 Mad 裏最喜歡角色。他的經典口頭禪是“什麽，我在擔心？” ‘What me worry?’ 。Mad 的Alfred E. Neuman在他名字裏只有一個‘n’ 而寫了以上這封信的Alfred E. Neumann 則有兩個‘n’。

這個Alfred E. Neumann 在信中提到了猶大因30塊銀片而出賣了耶穌，而很多人都認爲這只是個傳説故事。到底歷史上猶大和耶穌是否存在呢？而既然Alfred E. Neumann沒有提出他們存在的證據我們只能設想他是個相信傳説的‘講古人’。

事實上，有人認爲猶大根本沒有背叛耶穌而是耶穌的同謀。耶穌必須為世人的罪而死，這是上帝的指使，而猶大這個同謀他是知道的。所以，猶大他配合演出了這場wayang來背叛耶穌以便耶穌正如上帝所策劃般地死去。

那猶大真的背叛了耶穌嗎還是猶大是上帝計劃中的一員呢？猶大和耶穌是否又有合作執行了上帝的計劃呢？我們必須了解基督教是在耶穌受罪和復活后才建立的。若耶穌沒有被釘在十字架上和復活的話那基督教根本就不會存在。所以說耶穌必須死亡而猶大必須反叛才能讓計劃成功。

話説回來，如果Alfred E. Neumann 把我比喻成猶大的話，那誰是耶穌呢？安華嗎？有猶大就必須要有耶穌，而我真的很好奇他指的耶穌到底是誰。我現在只能猜想Alfred E. Neumann 的耶穌指的正是安華。

Alfred E. Neumann 之後談及的是我的忠誠，但他沒有講到是我對誰的忠誠。我們知道猶大效忠的人是耶穌， Alfred E. Neumann 把我當成猶大的話，那就必須得有個耶穌。忠誠是對個人，國家，理念，社團。。。。等等的，Alfred E. Neumann必需闡明我所效忠的對象。

我曾經是公正黨黨員，但我從來沒參與過行動黨和伊斯蘭黨，因爲沒有人可以成爲兩個黨的黨員。我也曾經為公正黨的黨報工作直到2004年，之後我就辭職為MT全職工作。而自從2001年起我就再沒更新我的公正黨黨籍。

所以 Alfred E. Neumann 不能講我背叛民聯三黨，因爲我根本就不是他們的黨員。無論如何，我是英國自由民主黨員，且在上個大選中有投票（我在大選前就入黨了）。到今天我還是自由民主黨員。

自由民主黨是現今英國執政聯盟政府中的其中一個聯盟黨。在最近Eastleigh的補選中（有14個黨參選），自由民主黨和它的聯盟黨友保守黨相互競爭。而在這次的補選中，自由民主黨打敗了它的盟友保守黨。但沒有人把這看成是背叛，他們都把這看得很正常且被允許的。在馬來西亞的話，我們可以把它看成是公正黨在大選中對壘伊黨或行動黨。

在這我們就能看出你和我就‘背叛’上的不同看法。對你來説，民聯三黨自相競爭就是背叛彼此，但對我來講，自由民主黨和保守黨相互競爭並不是背叛彼此而是在展現民主精神。

我效忠的是廣大的選民，而不是安華或民聯。如果我欺騙選民的話，那我就犯了背叛罪。所以儅我把影片公諸於世以解釋‘鑽石案’的背後真相時，我其實是正在執行著我對選民的義務。

我自己本身可能很不喜歡儸斯瑪，但那些小冊子指控的是儸斯瑪買了那枚鑽石戒指，而現實裏儸斯瑪根本就沒那麽做。事實上，那個故事是在那鑽戒被送囘美國才散播出來的。

我的忠誠是在於陳述事實的理念。而事實是，那枚鑽戒是在被送來馬來西亞后就被送囘美國，而那個故事是在以後才傳出的。我的義務是把那位送鑽戒到大馬的人要解釋的東西公諸於世，而我所做的正是如此。所以說，我並沒有背叛選民和我對陳述事實的理念。

當然，很多人都不會相信我所揭開的那個故事。這是很正常的—-就如會有人不相信猶大和30銀片的故事，或猶大背叛耶穌的故事，甚至是猶大和耶穌存在的事情。

總歸而言，你會相信那些你要相信，那些可以讓你死後上天堂的事情。

如果說我發佈的影片是指認儸斯瑪想買那枚鑽戒的，那Alfred E. Neumann 還會稱我為猶大進而猜疑我的忠誠嗎？當然不會！他有很大可能會把我捧為耶穌呢！

而 這就是所有事情的根基所在。