Tuesday, February 17, 2009

URGENT APPEAL FOR RAJA PETRA KAMARUDDIN

NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO! ISA !

Message from Dr. Lim Teck Ghee and Dr. Azly Rahman
(Directors, Center for Policy Initiatives)

Announcement

Written by Centre for Policy Initiatives 

Monday, 16 February 2009 13:37


We are posting here RPK's message to Malaysians. 

We appeal to the Government not to use the ISA again on RPK. 

We appeal to all fair minded Malaysians - especially those members of our elites - to urgently raise their voices and concern so that RPK is not deprived of his freedom and the tragic outcome predicted below does not come about.

We appeal to the international community to express their solidarity with the country's foremost dissident and to ensure that he is not incarcerated once more on political grounds.

Please disseminate RPK's letter as widely as possible.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Written by Raja Petra Kamarudin

16th February 2009

Tomorrow, I will probably be detained under the Internal Security Act. Anyhow, before we talk about that, let me start by giving you my prediction for the two by-elections scheduled for early April.


In 2004, BN won the Bukit Selambau state seat with a majority of 7,695 votes and in 2008 they lost it with a majority of 2,362 votes. (See the chart below). In the coming by-election, I forecast a voter turnout of around 26,000 and a majority of 3,500-4,500 for the opposition.

For the Bukit Gantang parliament seat, in 2004 Barisan Nasional won with a majority of 8,888 and in 2008 it lost with a majority of 1,566. (See chart below). This time around, the voter turnout will be roughly 42,000 and the opposition will win that seat with a majority of 5,000-8,000 votes.

Okay, I am forecasting this even before I know who the candidates are. Well, I have no choice. On Tuesday, 17 February 2009, the Federal Court is due to hear the appeal against my release from Internal Security Act detention and I really do not know what the outcome is going to be. Chances are, I have but 24 hours left as a free man and if I do not write this article today I never will.

On 7 November 2008, the Shah Alam High Court ordered my release from detention. The government has appealed this decision although it did not see the need to appeal the decision of the Shah Alam High Court acquitting Abdul Razak Baginda of the charge of murder without his defence being called.

I was in court last week to witness the performance of the three judges and what I saw did not give me much confidence. First of all, we asked for a quorum of seven judges, or at least five. But the court turned us down and fixed a quorum of only three judges. And two of the three judges appear to be hostile towards us from the word ‘go’. It looks like my fate has been sealed even before the case goes to court.

Anyway, I know for a fact that it was not Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who ordered my detention. He was not even aware I had been detained. The order came from Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and since I am bent on making sure he never becomes Prime Minister on 1 April 2009 I really do not blame him for wanting to get me out of the way.

My friends and family want me to leave the country and to seek political asylum in another country. They feel I can still continue with the struggle in a foreign land. But I am against that as much as my wife pleads that I consider this. I am no quitter and I do not run. I shall stay and fight till the very end even if that is the last thing I do.

If I have to lose my freedom so be it. That is the price we pay for opposing the powers-that-be. But I shall not go quietly or make any deals to secure my release with those who walk in the corridors of power.

I was given an option. Take the money and become rich or go to jail. I refused the money and instead chose jail. This is my choice and no one can convince me to do otherwise. No doubt I will have to pay for this and it will be a heavy price that I shall have to pay. But this is the price of the struggle and the price does not come cheap.

I shall not submit. I shall resist till the end. I stand on right and I oppose what is wrong. Amar makruf, nahi munkar, as Islam would say. We must uphold right and oppose wrong. That is not only the Islamic way but also the way of all religions. And even atheists believe in this, so you need not believe in God to subscribe to the concept of amar makruf, nahi munkar.

Over thousands of years countless people have met their deaths just because they stood on the side of right. What I have chosen to do has been done by so many who are now nameless and faceless. So it is nothing so special that I do which has not been done before.

My resistance will continue. But I will have to continue my resistance behind the barbwire fences of the Kamunting Detention Centre. It will now be up to you, those who are free, to continue where I left off.

My resistance, however, will have to take on a new form. I will no longer be able to write or speak at ceramahs. My voice has now been silenced. But I can still speak the words of silence, which will be my new form of resistance.

I shall no longer open my mouth or utter one word during my detention. I shall maintain the silence of a mute person. I shall not sign any documents of the so many documents that they make you sign when under detention. My signature is not going to be placed on a single shred of paper.

By doing so would mean none of my family members or lawyers would have access to me. Yes, that is the price I shall pay for ‘not cooperating’. I know this and I am prepared for it.

I shall refuse all medical treatment and visits to the hospital. I shall refuse to accept any food and water supplied by the Kamunting authorities. I shall refuse to leave my cell or to meet any of the prison authorities. In short, I shall shut myself out from the world and keep to my own world of my eight feet square cell.

This action will mean I shall survive at the most seven to eight days. By the end of that period I shall be dead. I am prepared for that. They plan to imprison my body for the rest of my life. But I shall release my spirit from my body and will again be free. They can keep my body and they can do whatever they want with it. But they will never be able to keep my spirit. I shall separate my spirit from my body and deny them the pleasure of incarcerating me.

This is a decision I have taken and no one can make me change my mind. And this is probably the last article of mine that you shall read if they send me to Kamunting tomorrow. Keep the struggle going. I shall no longer be able to join you in that struggle. The work is far from finished. This country needs major political, economic and social reforms. The next two years are going to be most trying years indeed. And expect a snap general election within 18 months of Najib taking over if he does take over on 1 April 2009.

I lay down my life for this nation of ours called Malaysia. I will sacrifice myself for the sake of the struggle. There is very little left I can give at this point of time other than my life. For those who stood by me all these years, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I go with a heavy heart. But my heart is heavy only because I have but one life to give.

Death is not the end. Death is but the beginning. It is the beginning of a new journey that none of us can escape and will one day embark upon. It is not something to be sad about. It is something to rejoice.

Please continue your struggle to make Malaysia a better place for our future generation. This country belongs to them and it is for them that we struggle. For some of us, our time is already almost up. We do not have many years left. Many have gone before us. Many friends who started out with us in 1998 are no longer around. But they left this world in the hope that one day Malaysia will be the country that we dream it would be. And that, too, must be our dream.

I pray and hope that the Putrajaya Federal Court will uphold the decision of the Shah Alam High Court to free me from ISA detention. But if it reverses that decision then we must be prepared for that as well. And if the Federal Court does what I fear it will do, goodbye Malaysians, my comrade-in-arms.

We shall meet again, one day, although not in this world but the next.

4 comments:

ocho-onda said...

Dear Raja Petra,


Hang in there my brother ! The Good Lord works in mysterious ways. What cannot destroy you will make you stronger !
Good will always triumph over Evil as sure as Light will overcome Darkness !
May the Spirit of Bushido Lives Eternal in you and gives you the strength and courage to overcome all your challenges !

Unknown said...

Dear Ocho-Onda and other blog readers.

On 23rd of February, the Federal Court comprising 3 judges (of whom defence counsel Malik Imtiaz said “I do not know the grounds of the dismissal but I sense, judging from the judges’ argument, that it could also be because they have no power (to decide)") - will decide on RPK's fate.

Should they decide in favour of the government and set aside the High Court's decision allowing RPK's habeas corpus application, RPK will be re-arrested and taken back to Kamunting, effectively stopping him from campaigning for PR in the forthcoming by-elections.

In his post as reposted above, RPK has vowed that, if he is detained again, he will withdraw totally and stop taking food and drink!

If that were to happen, (and I am praying it will not) Monday, 23rd February 2009 may be the last chance to see RPK in this world.

There is a nation wide call now for his supporters to go to Putrajaya to see him and show him your support.

The price that he has had to pay for standing up for Malaysians can be seen as follows:

# RPK's defamation trial - 19 Feb, Jln Duta Sessions Court
# RPK's ISA trial - 23 Feb, Putrajaya Federal Court.
# RPK's sedition trial - 23-24 Apr, PJ Sessions Court

May as many turn up to stand with him in solidarity.

Dear Ocho-Onda, I am sure you will be with him in thoughts, prayer and spirit.

God bless you and yours.

Anonymous said...

As always RPK sensationalises everything, even his impending hunger strike, war of silence and planned death!

His intention is to instigate a public outcry locally and internationally against the Malaysian government.

He once claimed to be the true Raja Bugis. I suppose now he is the one and only true Patriot!

May God have mercy on all of us!

ocho-onda said...

I dedicate this timely and prophetic song by Bob Dylan to Raja Petra and my fellow Malaysians.
Below is the lyrics to the song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vou4qUu5YY


"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.