RPK, my enemy?

Grow up, man! In his latest posting, A lot of growing up to do, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, described recently as "the king of drama" by a Ku Li aide, named me as one of the Umno people who saw him as "The Enemy".

"The same also goes for Zakir, ‘Rocky’, Aspan, Ron, and many others -- all Umno people. These people, as far as I am concerned, are my friends -- fellow Bloggers. Unfortunately, to these people, I am the enemy."

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry reading that, but I know that RPK isn't fit to be my enemy.

Sure, I have ticked RPK off several times in my blog. But that's only because of a problem I have been having with him, i.e. he makes serious allegations in his articles without bothering to check his facts. It's a professional fault, and I've picked on him in my blog postings several times over this bad habit of his.

I've waited for him outside the police station those times after he was picked by the cops for questioning. I am against police intimidation but in the same press statement where I criticized the cops for their art of intimidation, I'd also always stressed the need for bloggers to stick to the truth and substantiate their allegations. RPK does not do that, you see, and I feared that this would eventually give bloggers a bad name.

Other than that, he does not have the traits that would make him a worthy enemy of mine. Sorry, Pete!

I don't care that he had jumped so many camps in such a short time: from Anwar Ibrahim to Dr Mahathir to Ku Li and back to Anwar. That's none of my business. I am a journalist and not a political activist or machai so I wouldn't know why people like RPK do that. I didn't even ask him if he had "sold out" to this other side or that other side. For power, money, women, cars, glamour, ideals, principles?

But I am glad RPK's talking about the times when he was "working" for Dr M in 2006 and 2007. Our paths crossed many times back then as I was also close to that "inner circle". Dr M wasn't a blogger yet but he saw the potential of blogs and he gave the space that bloggers needed then.

I did ask an aide of Dr M why RPK left the Old Man. The answer was, nobody knew. But there was no bad blood, I was told, and that was good enough for me.

I am also glad to read RPK's latest article as has finally decided to tell his readers about his night visit to Najib's home. So now the readers all know that it's not just Saiful who can have an appointment with Najib at home! Of course, some of us had known about this "visit" by RPK for quite a while but we kept the secret to ourselves for we didn't want to embarrass the night visitor.

There are many other stories to tell about that period, when bloggers were united against the Abdullah Badawi administration and when their political differences did not get in the way.

RPK has told his side; I'm sure the others will tell theirs soon.

As for me, I just want clear the air about this "enemy" business. And as for pro-government bloggers declaring war on anti-establishment bloggers ... that's the first time I've heard of it.

For Shamsul Yunus as well, judging from his response in Is RPK offering a surrender?.