RPK attack shows activists feel let down by Anwar, say BN men

By Shannon Teoh

January 03, 2012

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders have said Raja Petra Kamarudin’s attack on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a sign of civil society’s growing disenchantment with the opposition leader.

The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) chairman was reported by Umno-controlled media last weekend as saying that Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) candidate for prime minister was unfit for the role as Malaysians could not accept a homosexual to lead the country.

“There is uncertainty among activists as Anwar shows his true colours. This will hurt PKR in its main support base of urban liberals who are coming to realise that the party’s struggle is not for ideals but for one man,” Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir (picture) told The Malaysian Insider.

Raja Petra, who fled the country in 2009 after alleging that Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife were responsible for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu, did not explicitly call Anwar a homosexual but said there was no room in Malaysia for someone who is gay and wants to become PM.

The self-exiled blogger, better known as RPK, also said he was “90 per cent” sure the man in the Datuk T sex video was Anwar, and that many of the latter’s friends believed in the authenticity of the video.

“Civil society knows it cannot take sides and some of them have found that the prime minister is responsive with his reform package.

“On the other hand, PR has not delivered on their promised reforms. Until this ‘third force’ crystallises, activists like RPK realise they cannot put all their eggs in one basket,” said MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker.

Raja Petra had first mooted civil society as a third force in Malaysian politics in October 2010 when he told a forum in London that PR’s huge gains in 2008 were due to civil society action such as the Bersih and Hindraf rallies in 2007 which championed free and fair elections and lobbied for Indian rights respectively.

“We have given PR 2½ years but not a single reform has been implemented,” he had said, forcing Anwar to defend his coalition at the same event by laying blame on the federal government.

Umno’s Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman also said today that activists have been used by the PKR de facto leader and then discarded in the party’s elections in late 2010.

“These activists helped PKR in Election 2008. Now Anwar has no need for them. They are starting to see how Anwar is unreliable and an opportunist.

“It is much easier for them to tell BN what to do. We can give them new policies, we can even change ministers or the prime minister.”

Raja Petra told Umno’s Utusan Malaysia his opinion changed when Anwar denied knowing Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, one of the three men responsible for screening the sex video.

The blogger claimed that Anwar knew Shazryl well, and had asked him to help the former honorary Thai consul.

Anwar has repeatedly denied that he was the man seen having sex with a prostitute in the 21-minute video which was first aired to the media in cloak-and-dagger fashion by a mysterious “Datuk T” at a prestigious hotel here in April last year.

It was later revealed that “Datuk T” was in fact three notable public figures — former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Rahim Thamby Chik, businessman Shazryl and former Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim.