WANTED: RPK

Sedition trial: Arrest warrant for RPK
The Petaling Jaya Sessions Court has this morning issued an arrest warrant for Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin for failing to appear for his sedition trial.

MCPX

Raja Petra, 59, is facing trial for the alleged seditious article entitled 'Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell' which was posted on the Malaysia Today website.

The charge under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 carries a maximum fine of RM5,000 or three years' jail or both upon conviction.

Before the trial was adjourned in February, defence lawyer Gobind Singh Deo has raised the issue of an apparent photograph of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak seated at the table with murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu during her birthday party in the Mandarin Hotel in Singapore.

Raja Petra is facing another charge for criminal defamation in Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court for allegingly implicating Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, and two army officers in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The popular blogger's problem does not end there.

Last year, the Alor Star High Court has ordered him and editors of an opposition newspaper to pay damages over libel claims by a university head.

University Utara Malaysia and its vice-chancellor Nordin Kardi filed a lawsuit against Raja Petra over an item that alleged Nordin had plagiarised an article.

The High Court made the decision after Raja Petra and the opposition party PKR's newspaper, which also published the story, failed to file a defence.

It ordered Raja Petra to pay RM4 million to Nordin and the university, while two editors of Suara Keadilan had to pay RM3 million.

Raja Petra said the offending item was merely a letter written to him by a former student representative and that he would not pay the compensation.

Why I was not in court today


After two rounds of detention under the Internal Security Act, controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin said he does not wish for a third.

In a posting on his Malaysia Today website, the popular 59-year-old cigar-smoking writer of aristocratic lineage explains why he skipped today's sedition trial hearing.
"After two ISA detentions, I do not plan to allow them to get me so easily the third time around.
"I also refuse to face treason charges that will result in me being sent to the gallows. I love my life and wish to remain alive a few years longer if possible," he said.
Raja Petra is facing trial for the alleged seditious article entitled 'Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell' which was posted on the Malaysia Today website.

There are also rumours that the blogger, who has been one of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's staunchest critics, might have left the country with his wife. However, this could not be confirmed.
Over the years, Raja Petra's 'no holds barred' style of writing has earned him both admiration and condemnation.

Royal conflict
At the same time, the blogger said that his absence from court was also related to his recent dispute with the Selangor palace.
"This dispute was due to my open letter to the (ousted) Perak menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, which I wrote on March 2 in response to the ongoing Perak constitutional crisis.

"My family (his royal cousins) said I had acted in a treasonous manner and they wanted me to issue a public apology to the Sultan of Perak," he added.
However, Raja Petra refused to do so.

"The Sultan of Selangor was very angry and that triggered a conflict between our two families. My family told me I had brought shame to the family name and they demanded that I attend a family meeting to discuss the matter. However, I did not attend and this aggravated the situation.

"My family then gave me an ultimatum. I was to either make that public apology or else my family would insert an advertisement in the mainstream newspapers practically distancing itself from me, which could be interpreted as disowning me," he penned.
According to Raja Petra, he has opted to go into a self-imposed exiled outside the state of Selangor - a "punishment befitting a member of the Selangor royal family who has courted the displeasure of the palace".

He said his grandfather Sultan Musa had suffered the same fate, and that was why the controversial blogger could not be in Petaling Jaya court today.