Dr M worried he has ‘lost face’, says blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin

(That Rakyat Post) – Why is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad protesting the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, commonly known as Sosma?

In asking this, renowned blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin wondered if the former Prime Minister felt that Sosma was too tame compared to the repealed Internal Security Act or its United States equivalent, the Patriot Act or was it because his two “agents” — Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang — were “put out of action”.

Raja Petra, once a strong ally of former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,  however, said that Dr Mahathir is worried that since his two “agents” lost their freedom and two cabinet ministers, namely Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, lost their jobs, it would mean the elderly statesman lost face.

“He had guaranteed them that they would be safe but apparently they are not,” Raja Petra wrote in his blog, of which was also published in the New Straits Times today.

In July Muhyiddin was axed as the Deputy Prime Minister, while Shafie was dropped as the Rural and Regional Development Minister.

The article was in response to a press conference by Dr Mahathir where he criticised the “abuse” of Sosma two days ago.

Raja Petro noted that the event on Monday was similar to when the opposition protested the use of the ISA against Anwar’s supporters in 1998 to 2001.

Raja Petra earlier noted the Sosma was “very tame” in comparison to the ISA and Patriot Act as under the former one is not subjected to torture to extract confessions and instead allowed to a trial.