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| Happier days: Bloggers' 100-day party post-GE 13, 6/7/2008 |
I haven't spoken with Syed Akbar Ali in three years, at least, and with Raja Petra Kamaruddin a while longer. About a decade ago, when blogs were fab and the Government hated and even feared bloggers, RPK, Syed and I and others (including our lawyers!) would meet regularly at the National Press Club where I was president, at police stations and legal firms and sometimes in court, the Chinese Assembly Hall, and events featuring ex PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I've been to Syed and RPK's homes, that's how close I was to them.
But Syed and RPK, they were closer to each other. On 6 May 2008, their fates would interlock forever when both were charged with sedition by a growingly desperate Administration.
Months before that, during the run-up to the 2008 general election, by which time RPK had "suddenly" left Mahathir's camp to go back to Anwar Ibrahim's, RPK and Syed would be seen attending Opposition rallies and campaigns together.
Syed hadn't started his OutSyed The Box blog but he was a regular contributor to RPK's The Malaysia Today, which had a very big following in those days.
At a clandestine meeting of the biggest and most influential bloggers one evening at the NPC, Syed chaired and RPK presided. These were Umno, PAS, PKR, DAP and independent bloggers who believed they could force a change in the government in the GE if they were more united in their approach, online as well as in real life (the first Bersih, Bloggers United, National Blogs Alliance, etc).
After Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stepped down, the sedition charges against RPK and Syed were DNA-ed (Dismissed Not Amounting to Acquittal) by Attorney-General Gani Patail.
Syed went on to open his hard-hitting blog and became the first president of the Blog House Malaysia and sat on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for two terms, remaining close to Dr Mahathir all the time.
RPK opened a cafe in England and today runs the still-influential Malaysia Today from afar, emerging as one of the more intelligent and effective voices in the on-going, if waning, Mahathir-Najib battle royale.
Raja Petra's How Syed Conned Mahathir and Muhyiddin (The Malaysia Today, Dec 6) is not just a posting on 1MDB and how Dr Mahathir got it so wrong (or so says RPK),. It is also about rifts and break-ups the Mahathir-Najib split has caused between old friends and comrades.
In politics, they say there are no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. But I'm afraid that most bloggers are not in politics, and their friendship, or enmity, could be more permanent, regardless of what their interests may be.
And, so, we await Syed Akbar's response to RPK's serious allegations in that article. It's highly unlikely he will or can take it quietly. For this is not just about him.
Exceprts:
"What (Dr Mahathir) knows about 1MDB is what Syed Akbar Ali, a.k.a. OutSyed The Box, told him. And either Syed does not know accounting or corporate finance or he has been taking Dr Mahathir for a ride — a long ride to nowhere." - RPK, 6/12/15
ReplyDeleteActually it might be more accurate to say that it's only those who have so much money stuffed in their eyes that they cannot see the truth.
The bigger point is this:
The 1MDB “issue” is not just a massive and loss-making waste of time that has shown nothing but debt for the last 6 years. If it’s just bad business dealings, then biasa-lah. The man himself is incompetent, he surrounds himself with “loyal but not smart” asskissers, so of course the country is not going to be well-run.
No, the “issue” is far worse than that.
a) Were the Malaysian public lied to? Even in Parliament?
b) Was money diverted away from its stated purpose? To this day, not a SINGLE PERSON can explain why and how the chubby boy from Penang got into the picture. And despite all the desperate spin, not a SINGLE PERSON can pick up any document exposed by the Thingy or The Edge and say “this is fake”. The reason is simple: their reporting is accurate.
c) Were the institutions of govt undermined and sabotaged in order to cover up the mess?
d) Why are the Australians, Swiss, Americans, British, Singaporeans and Hong Kongers so utterly stupid that they are acting on wrongdoings in 1MDB and the “donation” that affected their countries?
So, how can TakdeTeloq “resolve” this?
If a woman is raped, the fact that she does not get pregnant is not relevant; the crime has already been committed.
No amount of asset-stripping is going to cover that.
ReplyDeleteThere's only thing that RPK's bloated, pompous ego has ever said that is 100% true:
"I can't comment on the 1MDB issue, because I don't understand it".
No, you don't.
That's why every "analysis" that the fat old man offers has all the depth of a puddle of mosquito piss.
But anyone with a finance background who doesn't need to "cari makan" has shredded every one of Arul's spins a hundred times over.
http://spin-kings.blogspot.my/2015/12/1mdb-press-releases-are-really-fat-and.html
https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/arul-kanda-said-so-many-stupid-things-about-1mdb-it-is-just-sickening/
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/03/australia-firm-caught-up-in-1mdb-scandal-report.html
It's so much easier not to fight facts with facts, so RPK just embeds a couple of shallow lines about 42 billion and rationalisation plans into his massive ego wanks, checks that his PMO money's been TT-ed in, and then shuts off his laptop.
Done in 15 mins.
At least Rocky works till lunchtime.
I wonder why you still list the foul-mouthing Syed on the right side of your blog, Dato. This guy is a coward who deletes his blog entries every now and then. His latest entry called RKP the moron of Manchester. Should be fun to see them both slugging out.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"The kampung folks don't get 1MDB, so it doesn't matter, lah".
I would not be too sure.
They can spot a liar a mile away:
"If I was going to be a robber (penyamun), why would I transfer the money back into the country? That is, if I wanted to be a robber. I am thankful that many people did not believe the news that I transferred money to my personal accounts.”
They can spot panic a mile away.
Why sabotage, sack, transfer and arrest the MACC, SB, AGC if you really have "nothing to hide"?
Lying and panic.
Very, very easy to see.
Do not underestimate kampung folks.
Or any other Malaysians.
ReplyDeleteIf the rakyat have been misled, please explain:
a) The denial of any connection with the intermediary Jho Low;
b) The seemingly contradictory explanations about 1MDB funds;
c) The silence about the source and destination hundreds of millions of US dollars the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) confirmed was in Najib’s bank account;
d) The legal cases slapped against critical media and political
opponents;
e) The sacking of the former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail;
f) The transfer of MACC officials to the PM’s Department and then the re-transfer;
g) The elevation of the PAC members to the cabinet, delaying PAC investigations;
h) The purge of dissenting Umno members from the party ranks,
i) The jailing of whistle-blowers under security laws;
j) The removal of his then Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
I believe both RPK and his new paymasters will have a bad case of *krik krik krik*....
JMD do not cari makan? Oh please....
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAs for you, Latuk, wake up and come back to your senses, bro. You've made the cash, now do what's right for the country and your future generations. That sure as hell ain't Najib. You know it, we all know it. When you supported Tun maybe you were doing it for the right reasons. You are supporting Najib for money. That is OK with me. You have a right to do so. I am not judging you. But beyond that, you also need to have a conscience about Malaysia. This country is worth saving. Do your bit, bro. Peace....
ReplyDeleteWow:
"Raja Petra was represented by a six lawyers – Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh, K. Balaguru, PKR's Selayang MP William Leong, J. Chandra, DAP's Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng and Jeswinderjit Singh.
His prosecution was a media event at the court, with blogger friends and Pakatan Rakyat politicians supporting him. Among those who turned up were Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Raja Petra had hours earlier turned up at the Duta Court Complex, where he was told to be by the police. However, after waiting for more than an hour, he received a call on his handphone from the police telling him to go to the PJ sessions court instead.
Raja Petra was vocal in condemning the sedition charge, saying that there was nothing to be worried about.
"I have been asked if this sedition charge is part of a war on bloggers. We bloggers declared war on the government four years ago. So it is not the government who has declared war on us. We want to change the government," said Raja Petra, who added that he was expecting to be charged.
He was detained under the Internal Security Act in 2001, and released the same year.
His departure to Sungai Buloh prison was met with bloggers shouting "Makkal Sathi", "Reformasi" and "Suara Petra, Suara Malaysia".
Raja Petra's website issued a call for donation of RM1 per person to his legal aid fund. At 6.45pm, RM24,500 had been credited to his CIMB bank account, and the fund had collected an additional US$3,283.61 through a Paypal account. It has been closed since."
Half-Melayu mudah lupa.
ReplyDeleteZahid has made a very misleading statement:
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=1196909
The attempt to compare the 6-member NSC panel with POTA or POCA panels is simply wrong.
Here are the Acts:
http://www.searcct.gov.my/images/pdf/pota/POTA_en.pdf
http://malaysianlaw.my/criminal/legislation/bill-of-the-prevention-of-crime-amendment-act-2015-MY12137.html
In neither POTA or POCA does the panel have any connection to the Executive. Indeed, this point was made by Najib himself:
"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has stated that the executive arm of the government has no say in decisions to detain an individual (under POTA) and by awarding the responsibilities to a “credible body” (the POTA panel), only those truly involved in terrorism can be detained and therefore guarantee the safety of Malaysia."
As in most things, Najib tends to be "flexible" in his principles. He said this in April, and in 8 months (as we know) he can shift the goalposts many, many times.
Now he has not only involved the Executive, he has made himself head of the NSC panel!
Of course, most rational people would ask why, so soon after SOSMA and POTA and an enhanced POCA, does the govt need yet more anti-terrorism laws?
The answer is also very rational; it has nothing to do with saving the nation, but saving Najib himself.
RM42 billion lesap is the sort of one sided spin interpretation of accounting that outsyed would do. One can see it in the way he does his whistleblowing.
ReplyDeleteNot sure he was the one that advised TDM. Cannot rule out though. Not many around TDM are useful. The visible hangers on around TDM are mostly has beens. Not many are current personalities. Mostly carpet baggers like Khairuddin. None of the supporters are intellectually capable.
It is only his name that is carrying the fight but he is already forgetting things.
ReplyDelete"Raja Petra's website issued a call for donation of RM1 per person to his legal aid fund. At 6.45pm, RM24,500 had been credited to his CIMB bank account, and the fund had collected an additional US$3,283.61 through a Paypal account."
Ahhhhhhh, ni lah cara dapat "donation".......about Rm35,000 overall.
Bole dapat refund ke, from "Fugitive turncoat" nih??? Kih kih kih......
Thank you Anon 11.29 am who wrote:
ReplyDeleteAs for you, Latuk, wake up and come back to your senses, bro. You've made the cash, now do what's right for the country and your future generations. That sure as hell ain't Najib. You know it, we all know it. When you supported Tun maybe you were doing it for the right reasons. You are supporting Najib for money. That is OK with me. You have a right to do so. I am not judging you. But beyond that, you also need to have a conscience about Malaysia. This country is worth saving. Do your bit, bro. Peace....
xxxx----xxxxx
These days I don't publish comments that accuse others of getting paid for writing because I find such comments childish. I'm making an exception for you because of the appeal you are making: "This country is worth saving".
Yes, it is, my friend. Which is why I have chosen this path of defending the PM and the current Administration against the unprecedented attacks, not just locally but internationally. For Najib is under siege. Those who attack him don't want answers, I think even you have to admit that by now. Some of them just want Najib to step down so that someone else more agreeable with them can take over. This government is NOT perfect - no Malaysian government has been - but forging ahead, do you really think the Muhyiddin-Shafie Afdal partnership is the best for the nation?
Or Nurul Izzah-Tien Chua?
Or Guan Eng-Mat Sabu?
Najib will have to convince his party members about the RM2.6 billion and I have no dount he will do that. The 1MDB scandal and missing RM42 billion fiasco are coming to a close, and a lot of people are going to be red-faced about the whole episode when the Justo case comes up again. Kind of remind me of the Y2K thingy, when all those experts said we were heading for doom into the 21st century.
After this week's PAU, it will just bt the question of whether Najib leads BN into the next GE or not. Or if Zahid Hamidi will take over. In which case, the question is where will Hisham and KJ figure in the equation.
The Opposition? Let me not start on that ...
Thank you
zack said...
ReplyDeleteI wonder why you still list the foul-mouthing Syed on the right side of your blog, Dato. This guy is a coward who deletes his blog entries every now and then. His latest entry called RKP the moron of Manchester. Should be fun to see them both slugging out.
11:09 am Delete
---------xxxxxx--------
Dear zack,
Because:
1. He's still one of the - if not the - most well read among the pro-Tun bloggers and cyber warriors. Language? I suppose he can't help it, he's angry, frustrated, maybe even bored.
2. Syed is productive and super-active: most days he posts more than a couple of articles. What I like about him is he doesn't go without blogging for more than a couple of days and if he did, he would notify readers first. Those I have removed are mostly the ones who have been inactive for well over a week
3. I like to strike a nice balance on the blogroll: Mahathir vs Najib, RPK vs Syed Akbar Ali, Salahuddin vs JMD, Big Dog vs Apanama (dropped recently because of inactivity), Helen vs Annie, and so on and so forth ....
Thank you
ReplyDelete@ Latuk 5:22 pm,
You are completely correct in saying the Oppo are hopeless, by and large. I could not agree more.
However....
"Najib will have to convince his party members about the RM2.6 billion and I have no dount he will do that. The 1MDB scandal and missing RM42 billion fiasco are coming to a close, and a lot of people are going to be red-faced about the whole episode when the Justo case comes up again. Kind of remind me of the Y2K thingy, when all those experts said we were heading for doom into the 21st century."
Errrr, bro. You are somewhat falling into the RPK trap of glossing over the bigger picture. If we remove all mention of donations and 1MDB completely from the equation, I think there's a lot more to said about Najib's failures - social, economic, racial, institutional, and above all in the rule of law - than those 2 issues.
The predictable fallback answer (which is not devoid of truth) is to say that Mahathir was also a corrupt dictator. Yes, maybe so, but why not aim higher than that? In our nearly 60-year history, we have had PMs who were neither. Why slip into Marcos-era Philippines after nearly six decades? Because that is the prognosis for our future. We went wrong somewhere, bro; and Najib Razak is not the answer, he is the problem.
Sometimes the common man is not wrong.
Ask them whether the country is on the right path.
You'd be surprised how you'll get the same answer across races and social strata.
It would be somewhat sad to think that across 30 million people and 24 political parties (are there more now?) we cannot come up with a better solution.
Muhyiddin-Shafie Apdal may be imperfect, but I'd take my chances. And yes, that's desperation talking.
Cheers
ReplyDeleteSelective prosecution is wrong, as RPK wisely explains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_FsoEYwMSw
RPK, IGP, AG.
Morais, IGP, AG.
The more things change.....
This is for you, Malaysia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOeKidp-iWo
Bru, Bribery,corruption have already becoming part of the culture. I was listening to a speech by a YDP Majlis Daerah during the official opening of a community hall in Pahang. He openly declared the electrical works for the hall was carried out by his son's firm and asked the village people to report any problem directly to him. Tanpa segan silu.
ReplyDeleteDear Hantu Gigi Jarang,
ReplyDeleteWhy are you protecting the YDP Majilis Daerah by NOT naming him here? You could report his speech, identify him, name the community hall, provide some pictures. Keeping it discreet, in this case, isn't contibuting towards the fight against bribery/corruption.
Derma Dari IS (Idiot Sect) Islam Terrorist Saudi, Qatar, Syria, Iran, iraq Boleh..... Derma dari FBI, CIA, Isreal...tak Boleh.......Itulah Munafiq Islam Terrorist Malaysia dengan Izin Sultan_Agong -Govenor..... Teruskan Agenda 2020 Pecat Malaya dari Sabah-Sarawak ...Harga Minyak turun Lagi ...Alham duilah....Alllah Akan Belasah MalaSial dan melayu UMNO IS ISlam dengan Kematian serta Kebulkuran.....banjir, asap, denggi....macam macam lagi malapetaka.....sebab Tak ikut Jalan betul...Harap semua Hijrah ke Timur Tengah tunggu Madhi atau Hijrah ke Rumah Tokoh2 UMNO dan Agong-Sultan-Govenor tuntut Makanan....atau BANGUN REVOLUSI!! ABU...UBAH.... Asalkan Bukan UMNO adalah Hasrat Allah!!
ReplyDeleteDatuk,
ReplyDeleteTuan Syed is here to stay,not casting stones from faraway land
Fadzireen
Datuk,
ReplyDeleteWe clearly remember the day the photo was shot.
It was a few hours after the Police released Raja Petra Kamaruddin, after his statement was obtained for the SD he made on 18 June 2008, first made public when we posted in the cybersphere on 20 June 2008.
https://bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/is-this-statutory-declaration-true/
It was a memorable day for blogging because that post drew 40,000 hits. It was a very big deal back then,
We could recall someone using the handle "Mufti Murtad" in the comments posted in Malaysia Today. He was later charged for sedition for it.
ReplyDelete"Raja Petra's website issued a call for donation of RM1 per person to his legal aid fund. At 6.45pm, RM24,500 had been credited to his CIMB bank account, and the fund had collected an additional US$3,283.61 through a Paypal account."
Just to add.....seen online....
"RPK? I organized a coffee-shop gathering and raised money for his family when he was in Kamunting... regret like shit... fucking traitor useless opportunist cibai bastard!"
Does RPK do refunds?
Money does funny things to people, kan.
is it warm down there, rocks? i mean down there, in the gravity-bending, reality-distortion field where the politicos are inhabiting. you have seen it, but please, do not propagate it. take whatever you want and leave. don't be a tool, be a good man.
ReplyDeletergds
bru dah jadi batu api pula
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I find amusing in that RPK jab was he conveniently stated that assets of 51 billion over debt of 42 billion i.e. prior to the sale of Edra. But does he know how that 51 billion figure was derived ?
ReplyDeleteIn fact looking at the 42 billion listed in individual items, simple accounting will tell you some of the figures are inflated. So fine, we do not know accounting and perhaps RPK does (yawn !).
Coming to the point, this is not just about a man called Najib bin Razak. This is about how money has been found in his personal accounts. This is about how he was quiet at the beginning. This is about how his runners have been answering for him. And this is about how money appears suddenly in his account which no one spoke about back in 2013 but after WSJ published it.
So back to Syed vs RPK, it is not who versus who but why the truth has been concealed until the cat ran out of the bag. So what if the cat never left the bag ? How did the cat suddenly run out of the bag ? Are you sure its a cat ? What bag, Birkin ??
ReplyDelete"fucking traitor useless opportunist cibai bastard" = FTUOCB
"raja putar kelentong" = RPK
RPK is shorter...but both are accurate lol
ReplyDeleteHow ironic.
A leader from the “loyalty over intelligence” Cabinet is suggesting that Muhyiddin is power crazy.
Muhyiddin has been called a lot of names over the years, but surely the honour of “power crazy” as the public sees it, rightfully belongs to someone else.
A power crazy person will not seek the truth as Muhyiddin has done, he would seek to obstruct efforts to get it. He would seek to stifle dissent and empower himself.
Tengku Adnan should ask himself these questions, to which the public know the answers to:
Who is the person who has refused to tell the truth or explain the RM 2.6 billion issue?
Who heads the government of the day which has blocked whistleblower websites and suspended dailies?
Who heads the government of the day which has transferred, arrested and sacked people investigating or voicing concerns on the 1MDB controversy?
Who heads the government of the day which is pushing the controversial National Security Council 2015 bill, which will see so much power granted to the council? A bill that is so ambiguously defined that civil society groups fear will lead to abuse and infringe on the rights of citizens.
Keep in mind, the bill was rushed through without giving lawmakers sufficient time to debate it.
Why it was rushed remains a mystery.
What is not a mystery to the people is who the power crazy ones are in Malaysia.
It is certainly not Muhyiddin.
I was also part of the bloggers game but somewhere in between my sifus Syed, RPK and Rocky's Bru. I started blogging when I was serving in Brazil in the 1990s and haven't stop since then. We bloggers know that "Information is Power" and it's so powerful that it can bring down an elected government, such like once upon a time in South Korea. Although, most bloggers are not diehard politicians but they do change camp as there is absolutely no loyalty, especially for those who are on somebody's payroll. As for me, I am just an amateur and not paid to observe and write whatever I feel right in my humble self. I don't owe anyone my living and is always quite vocal in my writings in the media social.
ReplyDelete