Sarawak Report’s “exposé” on the Kamarudin Brothers

A few weeks later, my brother and I arranged for Hadi (who was then the Menteri Besar of Terengganu) and the then PKR Deputy President, Abdul Rahman Othman a.k.a. ARO, to have breakfast at Duta Vista. It was agreed that the relationship and cooperation between PAS and PKR would be maintained and would be continued. Nothing was going to come between the PAS-PKR relationship and cooperation.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Sarawak Report has published an exposé or revelation on the ‘secret’ links between the Kamarudin Brothers and PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang. Some people have expressed shock at this exposé or revelation. That is like expressing shock to learn that Anwar Ibrahim is gay or bisexual.

There are many people who post comments in the social media and talk as if they are politically-savvy. For example, they say if I know so much then why do I not just contest the general election? This is a demonstration of their ignorance and if they do not understand how things work they should just keep quiet. This is like a zoo keeper trying to lecture brain surgery to a brain surgeon.

Do you know when I took my daughter to the Selangor religious department to obtain permission for her to get married we were turned away? I was told since she is an ‘anak raja’ we must first get permission from the Selangor Palace.

So, I went to the Selangor Palace to meet my uncle, Y.D.M Engku Maha Kurnia Bijaya Seri Amar DiRaja Selangor, Raja Dato’ Haji Abdul Hamid Bin Raja Haji Nong, Penghulu Adat Istiadat Diraja Selangor. He wanted to know who the boy is and his family background. When I told Uncle Hamid the boy’s father used to be a navy captain and later in his career a defence attaché, permission was granted. But it had to be in writing because the Selangor religious department would want a copy of this letter for their records.

A cousin of mine who wanted to contest the general election was not granted permission by the Palace. So even if I wanted to contest the general election it is not merely a case of filling in the forms. There are many conditions to meet and I will never be able to meet these conditions.

My father and grandparents are buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kelang

Anyway, such comments show that many who talk do not really know what is happening or what they are talking about. One example is the latest Sarawak Report exposé or revelation saying that Raja Datuk Idris Raja Kamarudin and Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin are brothers and that Idris is aligned to PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang while I am aligned to former prime minister Najib Tun Razak.

Everyone knows that. Only Clare Rewcastle Brown and her chorus boys and girls do not know that. So what exposé or revelation is this supposed to be when your so-called exposé or revelation is not a secret?

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad knows this. DPM Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail knows this. Najib Razak knows this. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi knows this. The IGP knows this. The Director of the Special Branch knows this. In fact, most likely every officer in Bukit Aman knows this. The whole of PKR, DAP, PPBM and Amanah know this.

Only Clare and her bunch of chorus boys and girls do not know this.

I have written many times in the past (so forgive me if I have to repeat this story for the benefit of Clare and her bunch of chorus boys and girls) that I first met Hadi more than 40 years ago back in the 1970s not long after I moved to Kuala Terengganu.

Hadi’s visit to Gossip Kopitiam in Manchester: Boxing Day of December 2013 (others in photo: Mustafa Ali, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and current MB Terengganu Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar)

I did my first Haj in 1982, soon after Anwar Ibrahim joined Umno, and while in Medina I discussed with Hadi and the late PAS President, Ustaz Fadzil Muhammad Noor, the urbanisation of PAS. PAS then was just a kampung party that had no appeal to the urban Malays. We need to rebrand PAS and bring the party out of the kampung and into the towns and cities.

My brother, Raja Idris, was then a committee member of Masjid Al-Mujahideen in Damansara Utama and he agreed to talk to the committee about inviting Hadi to talk at the mosque, which was then still just a surau. An invitation was issued and the talk was a success. For the first time since it opened that surau overflowed until the car park.

Hadi was asked to make his talk a regular affair and he agreed to a once-a-month schedule. That was almost 40 years ago and the rest, as they say, is now history. In time, PAS managed to ‘creep’ in to the towns and cities and professionals joined and supported the party. Many engineers in, say, Petronas, TNB, etc., supported PAS and did not keep this a secret. PAS was no longer a party for just farmers, fishermen and Felda land settlers.

During the Kuala Terengganu by-election in January 2009 (an Umno seat which we won)

Those who are in politics and have been so for 40 years or so know this story. And they know about my brother’s involvement in Masjid Al-Mujahideen in Damansara Utama and how that mosque was used as the ‘springboard’ for PAS to become urbanised.

When Ustaz Fadzil died in 2002 and Hadi took over the reins of the party, PKR faced a dilemma. Hadi and Anwar Ibrahim do not see eye-to-eye so PKR’s and PAS’s relationship that had been built up since 1999 may suffer.

A few weeks later, my brother and I arranged for Hadi (who was then the Menteri Besar of Terengganu) and the then PKR Deputy President, Abdul Rahman Othman a.k.a. ARO, to have breakfast at Duta Vista. It was agreed that the relationship and cooperation between PAS and PKR would be maintained and would be continued. Nothing was going to come between the PAS-PKR relationship and cooperation.

And this happened in 2002, 17 years ago. However, Clare and her bunch of chorus boys and girls do not know this. And that is why a few days ago Sarawak Report published their exposé or revelation on the ‘secret links’ between the Kamarudin Brothers and PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang. Very few people do not know our 40-year links with PAS and their leaders. Ask Mat Sabu and his whole bunch in Amanah. They can tell you about Raja Datuk Idris and his brother, Raja Petra, and who they are to PAS and Hadi.