You said it, babe! (By RPK)

You said it, babe!
14 Aug, 2008

For example, one of my Deep Throats, who is a very senior Umno man and who can be regarded as one of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s advisors, told me that all my allegations in the Statutory Declaration are true.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Shafee latest challenger to RPK’s online stature
The Malaysian Insider, 14 August 2008

Nearly every day last week, Datuk Shafee Abdullah had to field calls from friends, colleagues and fellow lawyers. All the conversations started in the same vein, sans the small talk, with a question: have you read the articles on you by Raja Petra Kamarudin?

After dismissing the articles — which alleged that he was the hidden hand behind the sodomy case against Opposition icon Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim — the prominent lawyer promised to enter unfamiliar territory to clear his name and turn the tables on the blogger who runs the popular website Malaysia Today.

He delivered half of his promise yesterday by seeking and obtaining a rare order from the High Court, so rare that lawyers could not remember the last time any journalist/blogger in Malaysia was directed by the courts to reveal the source or sources of his reports. The order for Raja Petra to reveal the identities of readers who commented on the offending reports is unprecedented.

There have been cases in the United Kingdom and United States where bloggers have been ordered to reveal the identities of those who made defamatory postings on websites. But not in Malaysia.

Justice Datuk Tee Ah Sing also ordered Raja Petra to remove the articles titled "Shafee Abdullah: Sodomologist Extraordinaire'' (http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/10883/84/ ); "Money, Power and Sex: What Motivates Man'' (http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/10977/84/ ); and "The Real Dalang Behind the Anwar Sodomy Allegation (http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/11183/84/ ).''

His order asking Raja Petra to reveal the sources and identities of those posted comments on his blog will have far-reaching consequences, and could signal a move by the courts here to spell out clearly the boundaries for commentary and comments on blogs and websites. It also comes at a time when government ministers and officials have been calling for closer monitoring of bloggers and tougher action against defamatory articles on the Internet.

Tee's decision will provoke a gush of criticisms in blogosphere, where the prevalent view is that the Bill of Guarantees under the Multimedia Super Corridor provides a shield against any censorship or restriction against the freedom of speech. Lawyers have noted that the laws of defamation apply equally in any sphere, as long as the key ingredients in a defamation charge are made out.

They also believe that Shafee is relying on the Norwich Pharmacal principle to compel Raja Petra to reveal his sources and the identities of those who posted allegedly defamatory comments about him. In 1974, the House of Lords devised the principle to compel individuals or companies to reveal the identities of infringers so that the aggrieved party could take action against them.

By taking this route, Shafee is going for broke and is inviting a fight from Raja Petra, who already has a clutch of court appearances before him. In a statement to the newspapers yesterday, he said: "I have not seen anything more defamatory than what this man has written. None of what he said is true.

"Even someone with a pea-sized brain would realise the preposterousness of the stories Raja Petra has posted on his blog.''

These comments are unlikely to force the blogger into submission. Indeed, it could embolden him and force a standoff.

In the past, he has accused Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and his wife of being involved in the murder of Mongolian model Altantutya Shaariibuu; has accused the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan of being involved in criminal activities and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail of wrongdoing in the first sodomy case against Anwar in 1998.

He has been charged with criminal defamation for alleging that Datin Rosmah Mansor and two others were present when C4 explosives were used on Altantuya, and has said that the prospect of going to jail does not frighten him.

It is difficult to envisage him yielding to the High Court order and revealing the sources of the three articles or the identities of those who posted comments on his blog by Saturday. It will be seen as nothing less than a capitulation for someone who has built a reputation of taking on all comers.

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Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it very aptly last month when the allegation of sodomy against Anwar Ibrahim first broke. Of course he will deny it, said Abdullah. No one will admit it. That would be the normal reaction of anyone being accused of something.

Okay, that was not exactly the way he put it but he said, more or less, this: it is normal for someone accused of something to deny it and that no one would admit it. And that is exactly my response to Shafee Abdullah as well: would he admit it and would it not be normal for him to deny it?

He knows what I am saying is true and that is why he is demanding that I reveal my sources of information. It is actually six sources of information to be exact. Three of these sources are Datuks who were in that very meeting room in Shafee’s office that I wrote about. They saw the whiteboard and listened to the conversation between Aziz and his three or four police officers. The whiteboard had Anwar Ibrahim’s and my name on it with notes, charts and scribblings below it. And Aziz and his police officers mentioned Anwar’s and my name many times with sodomy the main topic of discussion.

I also have other witnesses who told me how Shafee bragged about how he is behind the sodomy allegation against Anwar and about how he is going to fix Anwar up. He also bragged that he is going to be appointed the next Attorney-General and that he will be selling off his law firm once that happens. These same people even wanted to give me the names of all the women -- and if was one hell of a long list -- whom Shafee is screwing around with but I told them that I am not interested in that part of his misdeeds because that is between him and the women he is screwing.

These informers know what they saw and heard. And I too know what they told me. And whatever I wrote about Shafee is the gospel and no court order is going to transform a devil into an angel. That I am very clear about, as clear as my name is Raja Petra Bin Raja Kamarudin.

The Malaysian Insider piece above also said:

In the past, he has accused Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and his wife of being involved in the murder of Mongolian model Altantutya Shaariibuu; has accused the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan of being involved in criminal activities and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail of wrongdoing in the first sodomy case against Anwar in 1998. He has been charged with criminal defamation for alleging that Datin Rosmah Mansor and two others were present when C4 explosives were used on Altantuya, and has said that the prospect of going to jail does not frighten him,

Well, Anwar Ibrahim has already lodged a police report about the IGP and AG fabricating evidence against him in 1998. Did they charge Anwar with the crime of making a false police report? Furthermore, Anwar also furnished the evidence to support his police report. Anwar even called a press conference to reveal the evidence and to announce the police report he made. So, is what I wrote a lie?

With regards to the IGP story, I attached Statutory Declarations from half a dozen or so senior police officers plus another two from underworld bosses that confirmed the links between the IGP and the crime syndicate headed by BK Tan. We are talking about Statutory Declarations here, not idle conversation and whispers in the night. If these six police officers and the two underworld bosses lied and signed false Statutory Declarations why were they not charged like I was when I too signed a Statutory Declaration? I have actually seen many other documents as well but I decided not to publish them because I want to protect the source. But at least these documents helped convince me that the IGP is guilty as hell and not a victim of slander.

The same goes for the allegation against Rosmah and the husband and wife Lt Cols as well. Initially, the police wanted to charge me for the crime of making a false Statutory Declaration. Then, during my two-hour interrogation, when the police realised that I do really have reliable sources as I claim I have, they decided to drop the false declaration charge and instead charge me with criminal defamation.

The police and AG realised that if I am charged for making a false declaration I would be able to produce witnesses who will testify that they did give me information based on Military Intelligence reports -- which was the basis of my Statutory Declaration. This frightened them and they backed off.

“How well do you know this informer?” the police asked me.

“45 years. Longer than I know my wife who I have known for only 40 years,” I replied.

I caught the police glancing at each other. They then tried squeezing more information out of me such as the identity of the informers(s) but they got nothing. I then challenged the police to charge me for the crime of making a false declaration and then the informer(s) will come forward to take the stand. That will not only demolish their entire case against me but the truth will also surface and my story will be confirmed.

I goaded the police and dared them to take me to court. “Charge me!” I told the police with a cheeky smile on my face. “Charge me and my informers will come forward. That will be the end of Najib. He will never become Prime Minister.”

And that is the very reason why they dropped the false declaration charge and instead charged me for criminal defamation. They want to make sure that I would have no opportunity to bring my witnesses to court. In a charge of false declaration I will need my witnesses to testify that they in fact did give me information. The truth of the information is not that crucial. It is whether you were, as you claim, informed. In a criminal defamation charge it no longer matters whether you told the truth or you lied or whether someone did or did not give you that information. Even if you told the truth and someone did give you that information you would still be guilty.

Smart people these police and AG, are they not? And that is the same reason why they charged me under the Sedition Act. Under the Sedition Act it also does not matter whether you told the truth or you lied. Even if you told the truth you are still guilty -- as what happened to Marina Yusoff when the court ruled that the truth has nothing to do with the matter. Even if you told the truth it is still sedition.

Can you see how they carefully chose the charges so that they need not prove I lied? I also will have no opportunity to prove that I told the truth, as the truth is not material to the charge. The charge is about whether I did say or write all those things and not about whether there is any truth in what I said or wrote.

In short, they can send me to jail for telling the truth as long as they can establish that I did say or write whatever I am being charged for saying or writing. They hope that once I am convicted then the public perception would be I have lied because most people would not comprehend I am being sent to jail for telling the truth.

So I am not going to bother accepting any challenges to prove what I wrote or to reveal my sources. Even if I produce 100 witnesses who will swear on their mother’s grave that what I said and wrote is true I will still end up in jail. And if I am going to be sent to jail anyway, why sacrifice my Deep Throats? Once I expose even just one of my Deep Throats no one will come forward any more after this.

For example, one of my Deep Throats, who is a very senior Umno man and who can be regarded as one of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s advisors, told me that all my allegations in the Statutory Declaration are true.

“What you said in your SD is true,” he told me. “Yes, Rosmah was there when they blew Altantuya up and Najib has been fucking Altantuya. We all know about it. Most Umno people know about it, even the PM.”

So what do I do with this information? Sign another Statutory Declaration and name my informer? If I do, will he ever see me again, let alone tell me all those things? That’s right, they trust me enough to tell me all those things because they know I will go to jail rather than finger them. And that is why I am able to get information no one else can.

Oh, by the way, the Military Intelligence boys told me not to worry. “We will never let them put you in jail,” they said. “We will make sure that we will do anything it takes to keep you out of jail.”

Hey, as I told the police in my cautioned statement under Section 112, I have known my wife for only 40 years. I have known these people for 45. Would I not trust them with my life? Okay, maybe not with my life, but at least with my freedom.

Okay, so now let the games begin. You wanna tango, let’s tango. But this might be your last tango if you’re not careful because, for sure, I do not plan for it to be my last, as I have many more revelations to offer the Malaysian public.

What’s that? You think I am taunting them? You can bet your sweet ninny I am.