Dear Raja Petra,
You must not languish in custody. We have to get you out on bail.
If on ground of principle, you do not wish to pay it, I will pay it.
It's extremely important that you come back to us to continue your courageous acts. I have been telling my children that if there is a Malaysian role-model we can look to, it is none of the BN goons, certainly not the Prime Minister and his cohorts, absolutely not the so-called spaceman, nor the sailor who fell from grace with the sea and yet got celebrated.
The real Malaysian role-model is you, sir. For courage, for standing up for what you believe in, for defying oppression, for exposing the truth despite the odds.
This is a time for heroes. And we need our heroes to be free, to fight, to stand up for us all. Not spend time in prison. We need the truth to be made known. We need the truth to set our beloved country free.
We need you to be free.
Sincerely,
Kee Thuan Chye
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"... when freedom of speech is being brutally subverted by the present regime and false charges can be instituted against anyone who dares to demand for justice and truth."
As a wife and mother, I want to know from my fellow citizens whether a government that has incarcerated my husband in the Sungai Buloh prison on trumped up charges and brought untold suffering on my family, especially when one of my daughters is sitting for her final examinations, is a legitimate government.
No wife, mother or children should to go through this horrible experience when all her beloved husband did was to uphold justice and truth.
On 2nd May 2008, the Armed Might of the regime was unleashed on my family when they came to my house in search of evidence for some alleged crime that my husband was supposedly to have committed.
I thought that this can only happen in a Gestapo state but not in my beloved Malaysia. You be the judge of this.
The police came in the morning and desecrated the sanity of my home for the fourth time. The fact that this has occurred previously does not make it any easier for my daughter and me. I wish that such nightmares can be forgotten, but let me tell you, especially mothers and wives, that the pain will never go away and that it is only our family self esteem and strength and our faith in god that has enable us to withstand and overcome the trauma and pain that we have suffered together.
I pray that no mother and wife will have to suffer and experience what I had with my beloved husband and my family.
Before we had time to recover our composure, the police handed us a summon to appear before the CCID, the following day. However, at 3.15pm, we received a call to appear at 4.00pm on the same day.
My suspicions for this sudden change in the time for my husband to be interrogated was to prevent publicity and the exposure of their dastardly deeds.
Can anyone of you imagine what I, as a wife and mother had to go through emotionally and psychologically when accompanying my husband to be interrogated by the police when on a previous occasion in 2000, he was brutally assaulted in my presence.
I could not express my anxiety to my husband on the way to the CCID, as I know that my strength and resoluteness would be critical to enable my husband to face his interrogators. He must have also felt the same for me and so both of us, thinking alike kept our silence. But we were determined to see this through together hell or high water.
The Petras’ are not some tofus!! We have enough strength and dignity to overcome such adversity.
My daughter suffered in silence and despite her age, she held up magnificently and no mother can be more proud than I to have such daughter.
As we approached the CCID tears welled in my eyes, but they were not tears of fear, sadness or trepidation, but the expression of my determination and faith that my husband’s struggle will ensure a better future for my daughter and the children of a better Malaysia.
I am proud to say that my husband overcame the intrigues and schemes and came out unscathed. But we knew that this was a mere prelude to more brutality that will be inflicted on my family.
The events of yesterday’s circus are known to all.
But what was most telling was the deafening silence of the judiciary and the bar council which supposedly are the guardians of justice and equity.
The dinner that was orchestrated by Pak Lah, his law minister and other cronies that allegedly ushered “a new era” for a independent and fearless judiciary in upholding justice and human rights, makes me wonder when such a institution that was promised was a fantasy in the light of my experience.
Today, my daughter and I went to the Sungai Buloh prison to visit my husband but we were told that he had no wish to see anyone even any member of the family or lawyers. I was shocked and disturbed by this turn of events as it can only mean that my husband is determined to endure the pain of incarceration and humiliation of being subjected and treated like a common criminal for upholding the freedom of speech and justice.
Being married to him for 35 years I knew only too well that he is capable of making any sacrifices for truth, justice and freedom. I suspect that when I was told that he did not want to see me, that he would be taking the ultimate step – to go on a hunger strike to demonstrate his determination to uphold the cause of truth and justice.
I have nothing more to say, as I am thoroughly exhausted by the turn of events and can only hope and pray that my fellow citizens, especially wives and mothers out there, that you would all come together to protest and to demand for my beloved husband freedom and that you will call upon your member of parliament to boycott parliament as a gesture of support for my husband’s struggle.
His struggle must not be in vain. We as a family will see this through but we will only be able to cope if we know that good and god fearing people like you will be there and standing together with me shoulder to shoulder to strike a fatal blow against tyranny and for justice and truth and for my husband’s freedom.
Marina Lee
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Buruknya hukuman orang yang bersalahTan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, Peguam Negara,
Saya jadi hairan kenapa begitu sekali tindakan yang dikenakan keatas Raja Petra Kamarudin disebabkan setiap kebenaran yang beliau nyatakan.
Saya faham kenapa ianya perlu dilakukan sebegitu rupa; semata-mata untuk memelihara orang yang benar bersalah disebabkan kedudukannya sebagai pembesar negara.
Saya tahu apa punca sebenar Raja Petra diperlakukan begitu. Semuanya kerana hendak menutup mulutnya dari berkata benar.
Disebabkan ini, negara ini takkan boleh aman lagi. Rakyat akan bila-bila memberontak lagi. Oleh itu berhati-hatilah bersabit dengan apa jua isu melindungi pihak pembesar negara. Saya tegaskan disini, saya begitu kecewa, sedih dan marah bila menyaksikan tindakan pihak polis terhadap Raja Petra. Disebabkan ini email begini saya berikan kepada Tan Sri untuk memahamkan betapa Allah membenci semua yang tidak bertindak benar di dunia ini.
Khas buat Datuk Seri Mohd Najib, Timbalan Perdana Menteri Malaysia:
Saya begitu kecewa Raja Petra diperlakukan sebegitu rupa.
Tidakkah Datuk Seri sedikitpun tidak berasa bersalah diatas setiap apa yang terjadi kepada Raja Petra disebabkan kata-kata benarnya itu? Saya tahu apa hukuman atau akta yang dikenakan terhadap Raja Petra, ia-itu akta memelihara pembesar negara yang bersalah. Oleh itu tunggulah hukuman Allah pula selepas ini yang sudah tentu lebih teruk lagi dari apa yang dilakukan terhadap Raja Petra.
Terus terang saya katakan Raja Petra adalah seorang Rasul yang Allah utuskan, sebab itulah seluruh jiwa raganya bertindak menuntut keadilan dari semua pihak pemerintah; bukan sahaja pihak kerajaan yang menjadi perhatiannya, juga pihak pembangkang sekiranya pihak ini juga tidak benar. Oleh itu saya nasihatkan agar Raja Petra tidak dikenakan apa jua tindakan oleh mana jua pihak sekiranya tidak mahu menyaksikan apa jua yang tidak disenangi selepas ini.
Selalunya bila seorang pesuruh Tuhan dikenakan tindakan bermakna banyak lagi keburukan di pihak pengadu atau yang membuat laporan terbongkar selepas itu untuk Datuk Seri fahamkan begitulah cara Tuhan memelihara semua pesuruhNya.
Terus terang saya katakan semua kami memperjuangkan kebenaran dan keadilan tak kira terhadap sesiapa jua termasuk juga dengan kedua ibubapa kami. Beginilah ketentuan Tuhan terhadap kami untuk kami tidak memilih sesiapa jua untuk kami menegakkan keadilan dan kebenaran.
Oleh itu sekali lagi saya ingatkan agar Raja Petra tidak dikenakan apa jua tindakan disebabkan kebenaran yang beliau nyatakan.
Berbalik semula kepada Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail:
Saya tegaskan disini inilah masanya Tan Sri fahamkan tidak ada gunanya bertindak terhadap kami Rasul Allah sebab selain lebih banyak pembongkaran berlaku, negara ini akan Tuhan laknati. Percayalah atau kita semua saksikan apa yang akan berlaku selepas ini sekiranya Raja Petra dikenakan apa jua tindakan oleh pihak mahkamah.
Terus terang saya katakan tidak mustahil bagi Allah untuk menurunkan bencana kepada negara ini kerana tidak berlaku adil terhadap pesuruhNya. Oleh itu berhati-hatilah menangani masalah ini. Jangan disebabkan kita hendak memelihara kedudukan pihak tertentu tak pasal-pasal kita dilaknati Allah.
Saya tegaskan disini saya tak takut untuk menyatakan kebenaran sebab saya amat tahu Allah melindungi saya. Jika tidak saya sudah tentu takut menyatakan segala yang benar secara begini. Saya boleh sebarkan email ini tetapi saya tak mahu berbuat begitu. Apa yang penting kami semua menuntut keadilan dari semua pihak pemerintah dan pihak berkuasa negara ini. Sekian saya maklumkan untuk tindakan Tan Sri seterusnya.
Saya yang menurut perintah Tuhan,
Meriam bt Ahmad Shaharudin
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CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN - Press StatementIt is with great concern that we, representing several Civil Society Action Groups, note that Raja Petra Kamarudin, Editor of news portal and blog, “Malaysia Today”, has been charged in the Petaling Jaya Sessions court with sedition in connection with an article he wrote and posted up at www.malaysia-today.net on April 25, 2008.
We call on all Malaysians concerned with the freedom of information and speech to stand up in support of a fellow Malaysian who has been writing “without fear or favour” on issues of public and national concern.
The charge against Raja Petra is in connection with a Post entitled “Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell” in which he raised pertinent questions on various facts of the case that are already within the domain of public knowledge. In our view the sedition charge is malicious and without merit. It is also politically motivated and aimed at silencing one of the most eloquent, dedicated and uncompromising voices speaking in defense of the rights of Malaysians and against the abuse of power stemming from the highest level of government and authority.
We urge the Government to re-consider its action in pursuing what is being perceived in the country and internationally as blatantly selective and repressive persecution. The action not only runs counter to the Government’s expressed promotion of a democratic, informed and participatory society. It also smacks of a renewal of the tactics of fear and intimidation which were recently resoundingly rejected by the Malaysian electorate.
We are disappointed that, despite the Government’s rhetoric of learning from its past mistakes, it continues to rely on heavy handed authoritarian means to instill fear and to discourage its citizens from freely engaging in public discourse.
This action of the Government coming just a few days after World Press Freedom Day (which fell on May 3) especially makes a mockery of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s expression of commitment to democratic and social reforms to promote a more open and transparent government.
We stress that a draconian law such as the Sedition Act has no place in a democratic society. Unlike the law on defamation, one cannot defend him/herself from a charge of sedition on the ground of truthfulness. In other words, messengers may be shot for simply uttering the truth. That the State is willing to use its instruments to charge Raja Petra for sedition instead of the aggrieved party resorting to civil defamation points to the need for thorough reform of our media laws. This is not a new demand but one which has been consistently raised by civil society.
As civil society action groups, we call upon all political parties, non-government organizations and individuals to express their concern and to show solidarity with Raja Petra. All freedom loving Malaysians must impress on the Government the need to withdraw this obnoxious action against a conscientious writer and true Malaysian.
Finally, we urge fellow Malaysians to respond positively to a coordinated initiative now being planned to raise funds (a token amount of RM1 per person) in defence of Raja Petra and to show our solidarity for a national cause aimed at protecting and promoting our freedom of speech.
Press Statement issued jointly by:Dr Lim Teck Ghee,
Director,
Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI)
Bernard Khoo,
For Ahirudin Attan
President, Interim Council
National Alliance of Bloggers
Wong Chin Huat
Chairperson,
Writer Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI)
Gayathry V.
Executive Director
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
Ser Choon Ing
Chairman of Civil Rights Committee
KL and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
May 7, 2008
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