Raja Petra: 'A tempest is going to be created. I knew that'

By Azreen Hani, Malay Mail

PETALING JAYA: The founder and editor of Malaysia Today, Raja Petra Kamaruddin (pic) in an article on the online news portal Malaysia Today reiterated the interview he gave Stesen Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) was for the police to re-launch investigation into his statutory declaration (SD) which was signed on June 18, 2008 and to 'find the truth.'

In a posting this morning, Raja Petra dismissed speculations on the internet that he was not the one who appeared on TV3's Buletin Utama and instead it was his 'lookalike'.

Expressing his gratitude for TV3 for giving him an opportunity to tell his side of story, Raja Petra said nonetheless what was aired last night was nothing new, but it had fallen to deaf ears all these years.

"Suddenly everyone is listening, thanks to TV3. Sometimes we need a storm to get people’s attention."

In his posting http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/no-holds-barred/39695-now-that-t..., Raja Petra wrote: "Maybe I need that storm so the story of my statutory declaration can be brought back to focus and corrected."

He said all these years, mainstream media and pro-UMNO blogs and websites called him a 'liar' for signing an SD which linked Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Najib Razak with the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2007.

"Somehow, the statutory declaration I signed and what I actually said in that statutory declaration has been lost. And it has been lost because the focus was on my so-called allegation rather than what I actually said in the statutory declaration."

Raja Petra said he made an allegation about Lt Kol Azmi Zainal Abidin, a military officer, whom he claimed had a confidential report regarding Altantuya's demise at the time she was murdered.

The confidential military report, including its entire file Raja Petra wrote, no longer exists.

In Buletin Utama last night, Raja Petra informed that the information he received regarding the murder was based on several individuals, who wanted to put pressure and prevent Najib, then deputy prime minister from becoming prime minister.

One of the individuals alleged to be involved in the practice, blogger Din Merican had written a statement saying there was no basis for Raja Petra to linking him in the matter, but did not deny Raja Petra called him to seek clarification from opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, regarding reliability of a military officer.

RPK's revelations spark controversy on blogosphere

PETALING JAYA: Self-exiled blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s revelations aired on TV3’s Buletin Utama last night have predictably caused a stir on the socio-political blogosphere.

Well known bloggers such as Rocky Bru, Big Dog and Syed Akbar Ali were among many others who blogged about RPK’s interview with TV3 Group Editor Datuk Ashraf Abdullah.

Blogger Big Dog, or Zakhir Mohamad, in his posting “La Traitoria” called a RPK a 'compulsive liar' and the owner of the online portal Malaysia Today was told to invent a plot to implicate Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Sharibuu.

“...they called the techno-psychopathic Raja Petra to give him the most ridiculous plot ever,” wrote Zakhir, known for his no-holds barred criticism of Pakatan Rakyat.

“Raja Petra is a very good liar. His mission in this was simple: Stop Datuk Seri Najib Razak from ascending to the premiership”, he wrote.

Other bloggers were more cautious and did not blog much about the issue.

They either posted the interview’s transcript, video or news story, but left if to the readers to decide.

Datuk Ahirudin Attan, who blogs on Rocky’s Bru, did not comment much on his posting: “RPK says it is Anwar Ibrahim”, but he provided the transcript of the interview in his article.

“Did you watch it? Did you think it was an RPK lookalike?” Ahirudin asked.

Syed Akbar Ali, author of “Outsyed the Box” posted the full Bernama news article on his blog entry: “Another Declaration from RPK”.

Blogger “Apanama” meanwhile posted a video of the news interview on his blog page.

Shamsul Yunos, author of "Marahku", carried a brief posting entitled: "EXPLOSIVE: RPK bares all".

Pro-Pakatan Rakyat bloggers, however, were silent on the matter. None had a new posting on RPK’s disclosure.

RPK himself posted a reaction to the TV3 interview.

In the TV3 interview, RPK expressed doubts on the statuary declaration (SD) made on June 18, 2008, in which he stated he received information that Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was at the site where Altantuya was murdered.

“That is what I’ve written in the SD. I never raised the accusation,” RPK said in the interview.

TV3 aired the first part of the interview last night and will air a second segment tonight.