RAJA PETRA KAMARUDDIN & THE TRUTH DILEMMA
Gopal Raj Kumar Open Debate on All Issues
COMING IN FROM THE COLD
Has the Raja fallen on his sword, has the prodigal son come home, do we need to kill the fattened calf to celebrate his return? Raja Petra Kamaruddin, RPK to his followers (all 10,000,000 of them?) appears to have done a 360 degree turn now with his interview broadcast in part in the NST and on youtube recently.
http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/rpk-anwar-may-become-irrelevant-1.26342
The problem is this. The divisions within Pakatan is neither news nor is it newsworthy. Leaks from within a disunited PKR camp and the opportunism of the DAP, coupled with the emergence of new prima donnas like Datuk Ambiga have served to more than just rock a boat in stormy seas. That Tsunami of public opinion about to topple government at the next general elections appears to be nothing more than that proverbial “damp squib”.
RPK’s cameo performance in the NST interview although not quite as stellar a performance as that of “Bruno Pentangelli” in the crime commission scene in the Godfather Part II is still worthy of some consideration. It is turncoat behaviour. However to his credit, RPK’s admissions beat the cowardice of both Malaysia Kini and Ambiga Sreenivasan, that “Joan of Arc” of Malaysian politics admitting shamelessly in an interview to foreign funding of her Bersih campaign in addition to the receipt of unlawful Selangor government slush funding for Bersih. That interview although in archive footage has been withdrawn from youtube now. It apparently has become an embarrassment to Malaysia Kini (another foreign funded institution) in another example of its unbalanced reporting in favour of an unruly opposition unable to live with its own principles of truth, fairness and transparency.
HINDRAF A CURSE AND A CURE
Marginalizing Hindraf has been a critical flaw in the opposition’s strategy. They have less in terms of numbers now than they ever did before. And Waythamurthi is unlikely to give in to their demands to joining their ranks until his many demands for the Tamils have been resolved. That includes insisting they form part of the PKR manifesto and political agenda. And that will only happen in a cold day in July.
More important the claims by the ‘opposition in PRK’ to have engineered that swing away from the Barisan was conveniently misinterpreted in a lie to grab glory from the real victory of the Hindraf movement in 2008. They split the vote in marginalized seats to their detriment and to the detriment of the Barisan. It was them and not PKR.
In its midst of all of this confusion is that “brilliant Malaysian lawyer” and recipient of awards from a murderous regime in Paris and a dog collar from Washington”. The prima donna of Ambiga Sreenivasan, a critical plank in the Badawi government’s ranks in their strategy to neutralise Waythamurthi and his political outfit Hindraf is now widely seen as the usurper of a hard won opposition leadership. Her interloping of the situation created by Anwar Ibrahim and Waythamurthi through personal sacrifice has been the platform that Ambiga snatched to adorn her otherwise hollow political drive. It was Ambiga that confided to close colleagues that Anwar would not be PM if an opposition coalition would win government in 2013.
As for Waythamurthi, it is not as if he is blameless in the demise of his own political party and for its many misfortunes along the way. Waythamurthi too must shoulder much responsibility at least in proportion to the credit he claims for his deeds and his omissions resulting in his political misfortunes. For the way in which he has conducted himself since the Hindraf demonstrations of 27 November 2007, how he directed his movement since and for his sheer naievety, his strategy devoid and rudderless movement has now been reduced to a Tamil political ghetto, devoid of that Malaysian or Indian character he continues to claim on behalf of all. Hindraf and Waytha are parochial not secular.
SELANGOR THE TROPHY: LOOSING ITS LUSTRE
With Anwar being all but spent as a political force, the momentum he gained in the early stages of Pakatan, the publicity surrounding his jailing and subsequent trial for sodomy, all of which gave him and the opposition that edge over the Barisan in politics, the opportunities were soon squandered on self-indulgence and sloganeering leaving a huge political leadership vacuum to be filled by another vacuum it seems. Ambiga by all accounts sees herself as the rightful successor to an opposition she helped destroy with persona ambition. Durga. Her campaigns like those of Anwar’s bore all the hall marks of that designer jeans and sloganeering set in preference for solid political and economic policies.
In Selangor for instance PKR has failed its constituents in every material respect. Its campaign material consists of apocryphal material circulated in emails that is defamatory of others, making scurrilous claims about bankruptcies, failing economies, corruption and other stuff that is more embarrassing than it is factual. These messages circulate from within, go through the tired diaspora of Malaysians in the capitals of the west, regurgitates itself, then resumes its mischief to a local audience in a spam campaign of “Chinese whispers”.
SELANGOR AS DIRTY AS PAKATAN
The dirt that litters the streets of Selangor’s major towns and cities are a manifestation of blatant breaches of local government by laws, health regulation and a return to the lawless days of Chinese dominance of the local city councils. During the time of his nemesis in federal government (yes Dr. Mahathir Mohamed), the state of public health was far superior to that found in many a western country. It is somehow BN propaganda to suggest so.
The number of garish tokongs built outside Chinese businesses in places like KL, in particular places like Old Kelang Road,where the saintly Theresa Kok is member for her mainly Chinese constituents, these illegally built structures built in breach of building and town planning laws stand out so blatantly as a sign of the pervasive corruption the opposition is guilty of whilst it screams blue murder at government.
THE CHALLENGE: THE AMBIGA FACTOR
RPK is not the first and certainly will not be the last soldier to come in from the cold. There are more to come. It will be fun to see how and for what reasons they attempt to grovel themselves back into favour now that their high moral standards are coming apart at the seams.
It is now incumbent on Ambiga Sreenivasan to come forward and to come clean (or Bersih if you would pardon the pun) with the source and purpose of her foreign funding seeing as Malaysia Kini has got the jitters with its revelations by Ambiga to their reporter as published on Youtube last July.
Neither Ambiga Sreenivasan nor the partisan Malaysia Kini have had the courage to admit to the issue of foreign funding. Instead and in defiance to her much touted boats of “Bersih” Ambiga has sought to sweep the “Kotor” under an already bulging carpet of corruption in her ranks and that of her movement. Others will out them in due course. We will without doubt. In our own sweet way, in our own sweet time. Bersih cannot claim to be Bersih when they continue to be less than open about issues of foreign funding to topple government. A duly elected government of a majority in a parliamentary democracy.
In defence of Anwar and RPK, one must credit them for the following reasons.
Anwar Ibrahim, for his personal sacrifice and courage, regardless of his many failings, his failed and questionable methods in attempting to foster political and social change in Malaysia.
For RPK for having the courage to be critical of his allies in the opposition inspite of his lack of will and courage to confront the demons he created for himself and others in Malaysia before fleeing.
360 degrees is not equal to 10,000Kms though. In order to play a part in that change he craves he must be present and face the music for his lies. Thats responsibility. Thats courage.
One step at a time lads. One step at a time. “Sadikit sadikit lala lama jadi bukit”.
http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/rpk-anwar-may-become-irrelevant-1.26342
The problem is this. The divisions within Pakatan is neither news nor is it newsworthy. Leaks from within a disunited PKR camp and the opportunism of the DAP, coupled with the emergence of new prima donnas like Datuk Ambiga have served to more than just rock a boat in stormy seas. That Tsunami of public opinion about to topple government at the next general elections appears to be nothing more than that proverbial “damp squib”.
RPK’s cameo performance in the NST interview although not quite as stellar a performance as that of “Bruno Pentangelli” in the crime commission scene in the Godfather Part II is still worthy of some consideration. It is turncoat behaviour. However to his credit, RPK’s admissions beat the cowardice of both Malaysia Kini and Ambiga Sreenivasan, that “Joan of Arc” of Malaysian politics admitting shamelessly in an interview to foreign funding of her Bersih campaign in addition to the receipt of unlawful Selangor government slush funding for Bersih. That interview although in archive footage has been withdrawn from youtube now. It apparently has become an embarrassment to Malaysia Kini (another foreign funded institution) in another example of its unbalanced reporting in favour of an unruly opposition unable to live with its own principles of truth, fairness and transparency.
HINDRAF A CURSE AND A CURE
Marginalizing Hindraf has been a critical flaw in the opposition’s strategy. They have less in terms of numbers now than they ever did before. And Waythamurthi is unlikely to give in to their demands to joining their ranks until his many demands for the Tamils have been resolved. That includes insisting they form part of the PKR manifesto and political agenda. And that will only happen in a cold day in July.
More important the claims by the ‘opposition in PRK’ to have engineered that swing away from the Barisan was conveniently misinterpreted in a lie to grab glory from the real victory of the Hindraf movement in 2008. They split the vote in marginalized seats to their detriment and to the detriment of the Barisan. It was them and not PKR.
In its midst of all of this confusion is that “brilliant Malaysian lawyer” and recipient of awards from a murderous regime in Paris and a dog collar from Washington”. The prima donna of Ambiga Sreenivasan, a critical plank in the Badawi government’s ranks in their strategy to neutralise Waythamurthi and his political outfit Hindraf is now widely seen as the usurper of a hard won opposition leadership. Her interloping of the situation created by Anwar Ibrahim and Waythamurthi through personal sacrifice has been the platform that Ambiga snatched to adorn her otherwise hollow political drive. It was Ambiga that confided to close colleagues that Anwar would not be PM if an opposition coalition would win government in 2013.
As for Waythamurthi, it is not as if he is blameless in the demise of his own political party and for its many misfortunes along the way. Waythamurthi too must shoulder much responsibility at least in proportion to the credit he claims for his deeds and his omissions resulting in his political misfortunes. For the way in which he has conducted himself since the Hindraf demonstrations of 27 November 2007, how he directed his movement since and for his sheer naievety, his strategy devoid and rudderless movement has now been reduced to a Tamil political ghetto, devoid of that Malaysian or Indian character he continues to claim on behalf of all. Hindraf and Waytha are parochial not secular.
SELANGOR THE TROPHY: LOOSING ITS LUSTRE
With Anwar being all but spent as a political force, the momentum he gained in the early stages of Pakatan, the publicity surrounding his jailing and subsequent trial for sodomy, all of which gave him and the opposition that edge over the Barisan in politics, the opportunities were soon squandered on self-indulgence and sloganeering leaving a huge political leadership vacuum to be filled by another vacuum it seems. Ambiga by all accounts sees herself as the rightful successor to an opposition she helped destroy with persona ambition. Durga. Her campaigns like those of Anwar’s bore all the hall marks of that designer jeans and sloganeering set in preference for solid political and economic policies.
In Selangor for instance PKR has failed its constituents in every material respect. Its campaign material consists of apocryphal material circulated in emails that is defamatory of others, making scurrilous claims about bankruptcies, failing economies, corruption and other stuff that is more embarrassing than it is factual. These messages circulate from within, go through the tired diaspora of Malaysians in the capitals of the west, regurgitates itself, then resumes its mischief to a local audience in a spam campaign of “Chinese whispers”.
SELANGOR AS DIRTY AS PAKATAN
The dirt that litters the streets of Selangor’s major towns and cities are a manifestation of blatant breaches of local government by laws, health regulation and a return to the lawless days of Chinese dominance of the local city councils. During the time of his nemesis in federal government (yes Dr. Mahathir Mohamed), the state of public health was far superior to that found in many a western country. It is somehow BN propaganda to suggest so.
The number of garish tokongs built outside Chinese businesses in places like KL, in particular places like Old Kelang Road,where the saintly Theresa Kok is member for her mainly Chinese constituents, these illegally built structures built in breach of building and town planning laws stand out so blatantly as a sign of the pervasive corruption the opposition is guilty of whilst it screams blue murder at government.
THE CHALLENGE: THE AMBIGA FACTOR
RPK is not the first and certainly will not be the last soldier to come in from the cold. There are more to come. It will be fun to see how and for what reasons they attempt to grovel themselves back into favour now that their high moral standards are coming apart at the seams.
It is now incumbent on Ambiga Sreenivasan to come forward and to come clean (or Bersih if you would pardon the pun) with the source and purpose of her foreign funding seeing as Malaysia Kini has got the jitters with its revelations by Ambiga to their reporter as published on Youtube last July.
Neither Ambiga Sreenivasan nor the partisan Malaysia Kini have had the courage to admit to the issue of foreign funding. Instead and in defiance to her much touted boats of “Bersih” Ambiga has sought to sweep the “Kotor” under an already bulging carpet of corruption in her ranks and that of her movement. Others will out them in due course. We will without doubt. In our own sweet way, in our own sweet time. Bersih cannot claim to be Bersih when they continue to be less than open about issues of foreign funding to topple government. A duly elected government of a majority in a parliamentary democracy.
In defence of Anwar and RPK, one must credit them for the following reasons.
Anwar Ibrahim, for his personal sacrifice and courage, regardless of his many failings, his failed and questionable methods in attempting to foster political and social change in Malaysia.
For RPK for having the courage to be critical of his allies in the opposition inspite of his lack of will and courage to confront the demons he created for himself and others in Malaysia before fleeing.
360 degrees is not equal to 10,000Kms though. In order to play a part in that change he craves he must be present and face the music for his lies. Thats responsibility. Thats courage.
One step at a time lads. One step at a time. “Sadikit sadikit lala lama jadi bukit”.
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