RPK STANDS BY HIS STORY ON LAHAD DATU

QUESTIONED.... The popular blogger was today questioned by two CID personel from Bukit Aman in Jakarta over his article on Anwar, MNLF founder Nur Misuari and the Lahad Datu incursion.

By : FMT STAFF

PETALING JAYA: Popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin today stood by his article that Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim sought the help of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari to win the general election.

Raja Petra, better known as RPK, also told two CID officers from Bukit Aman in Jakarta today that the contents of his posting on March 25 on his website Malaysia-Today was based on a reliable source.

The Malaysian police today took a statement from Raja Petra at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta over his article titled “The Untold Story of the Lahad Datu Incident” in which Raja Petra had claimed that Anwar had met Nur Misuari and his top military commanders on July 16, 2012 in Indonesia.

“I told the two CID officers that I stood by my article and that my source for that article is totally reliable,” Raja Petra told FMT via a telephone interview after his three-hour session with the policemen.

He said the policemen had asked him on the veracity of his article in which he had said that Anwar had sought Nur Misuari’s help to win at least 30 of the 57 parliamentary seats in East Malaysia to wrest federal power from Barisan Nasional.

The meeting, Raja Petra had added, took place at the Crowne Plaza Jakarta Hotel and was arranged by an Indonesian MP close to Anwar.

In his article, Raja Petra wrote that Anwar had urged Nur Misuari to convince Muslims in East Malaysia, particularly those from Sabah, to vote for Pakatan Rakyat in the 13th general election.

In return, Raja Petra claimed that Anwar had promised that Sabah and Sarawak would be given autonomy, once Pakatan wins federal power.

“The states will be given 20% oil royalty which will ensure that Sabah and Sarawak become wealthy, with an estimated RM4 billion a year for each state.

“Anwar also promised that the non-Malaysian Filipinos in East Malaysia would be given Malaysian citizenship, or at the very minimum, permanent resident status so that they could seek employment in Sabah,” Raja Petra alleged in his article.

The blogger also claimed that Nur Misuari had agreed to Anwar’s terms and appointed Ibrahim Omar as his coordinator, or “unofficial ambassador” to Sabah to help Anwar garner the support of the Filipino Muslims in the state.

Raja Petra also had said that this arrangement put the Malaysian government in a bind during the Lahad Datu intrusion, as taking military action would only play into the hands of the conspirators, adding that intrusion was definitely a shadow play and many are convinced there were people who masterminded the episode.

“But who is the dalang [puppet master]? Well, Malaysia-Today has just revealed the untold story and I challenge the Malaysian government to deny its authenticity,” he had stated in his article.

Summoned by the Malaysian police

Following the publication of the article, Raja Petra was summoned by the Malaysian police to give a statement. He flew down from the UK, where he is based now, to Jakarta yesterday to meet with the two CID personnel today.

“They wanted to know who were my sources. I didn’t reveal the identity of my sources but told them the organisation from which the information came. They should be able to do their own homework to find out the truth,” he said today.

He added that he told them to take his entire article as part of his statement for their investigation.

“They should now do their police work. I can’t be doing everything for them. I have confirmed to them that the information that I put out was reliable, and now the police will have to start asking questions to the right people,” he said.

He also said that he had named two other PKR leaders who had knowledge of the Anwar-Misuari link.

“They should start questioning Anwar and the other two PKR leaders. They can find out more about the role they all had in this,” he said.

After Raja Petra’s article was published, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli dismissed the allegations, saying that the former had not provided “a shred of evidence”.

“Dia cerita ikut kepala dia saja [ he is just telling tales)… He has not much credibility left,” Rafizi had said.