I will return to face charges, says RPK

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Today editor, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, said he will return home to plead guilty to defaming military intelligence officer Col Azmi Zainal Abidin and not for charges of defaming Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and military officers Col Norhayati Hassan and Col Aziz Buyong.

“I also promise I will not contest the charge. I will plead guilty and will suffer the jail sentence provided they promise to charge me for the correct ‘crime’.

“But I refuse to face the charges of defaming three people I did not defame,” Raja Petra said in his blog.

The blogger, who has been on self-imposed exile in UK for the last three years, told TV3 in an interview that he never alleged that Rosmah and the two officers were linked to the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaaribu.

“Most don’t understand that I did not make any allegation against Rosmah or the two Lt Cols. I made only an allegation against Col Azmi, the number two in the Special Branch of the military intelligence,” Raja Petra said in the TV interview.

He said that he signed a statutory declaration (SD) in June 2008 after being informed by his friend, Nik Azmi Nik Daud alias Bul, that the military intelligence officer had confidential military report indicating Rosmah was present at the site Altantuya was murdered, which is in Shah Alam.

He added that with the SD, it was also hoped that Najib would be blocked from becoming prime minister and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah installed as the new premier.

However, after signing the SD, Bul told Raja Petra that the military report no longer existed after the blogger was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in September 2008.