18 Dec, 2008
It appears very much so like they are trying to prevent Gan from testifying. He was the one who made the police report against me and the prosecution has already examined him. So it is now our turn to cross-examine him but the prosecution seems to be preventing that from happening.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
I know I have been rather quiet the past week. Sorry about that. I was trying to finalise my new book so that it can meet my launch schedule, which should be some time after Chinese New Year around late January 2009 or so.
The focus of the book will be the decade of the fight for change, which started on 20 September 1998 and peaked on 8 March 2008. No, it is not about Anwar Ibrahim or the REFORMASI Movement, although they are mentioned in passing. It is about how the Malays and a small percentage of Chinese and Indians ‘woke up’ in 1998, and about how the balance of the Chinese and Indians finally woke up a decade later -- and about how, once the Chinese and Indians woke up, they created a Tsunami of historic dimensions. I suppose this gives new meaning to the saying: better late than never.
The book will be partly a ‘recycling’ of some of my old articles related to the issue with some parts newly written. It also features a section by Zaid Ibrahim, basically his open letter to the Prime Minister and two of his latest speeches on the Internal Security Act, human rights, rule of law, and so on. In a way, my section and the section by Zaid are not quite related -- mine is mainly on the elections and Zaid’s is on those issues I mentioned above -- but the two issues are certainly part and parcel of the pursuit for political reforms and cannot, therefore, be detached from each other.
Three others have thus far agreed to also write a chapter each but I shall keep their names as a surprise for now. I also welcome any others who would like to contribute a chapter, as long as it is within the theme of the book.
Anyway, enough about my new book! Since my court case this morning, plus tomorrow, has been postponed, I suddenly have two free days on my hand. So I thought before I get back to my book I shall write at least one article. Once I start looking at my book I shall be so engrossed I can’t even hear my wife screaming at me: ‘The police want to see you’.
And that was what happened on Monday. Or was it Tuesday?
See, I told you. Once I start writing, or reading, I totally lose track of time and place. And that is why I read a book a day (two or three days a book if the book is thicker) while under ISA detention from September to November. That is how I ‘transfer’ myself out of Kamunting into another world. I don’t even realise I am in Kamunting once I bury myself in my books.
Anyway, either on Monday or Tuesday, a policeman came to my house to serve me a subpoena to appear in court from the 22nd to the 24th December. I refused to accept the subpoena and spend three days squatting in court, not knowing when and if I will be called to testify. As it is, my own case has been postponed time and again and I am yet to know when we are going to see the end of it. Furthermore, I have not been informed as to which case this is. They think they can just send me a subpoena and order me to appear in court and I will jump like an obedient puppy. No way, Jose (pronounced Hoozay for the less well-read readers of Malaysia Today), I am no puppy.
So I chased the policeman away and told him to confirm the exact time and date they need me in court and I shall make a grand entrance, on the dot, and not a millisecond sooner. And if in five minutes of my grand entrance they do not summon me to the stand, then I am going to make a hasty exit and do something else more worthwhile with my time -- like sitting in Bangsar to watch the girls in their miniskirts walk by.
My sedition trial in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court 3 this morning was, again, a disaster. Again, it was postponed, this time to the 10th, 11th and 12th of February 2009. Commissioner Gan, the Investigating Officer in the Altantuya murder, was, yet again, MIA (missing in action). The last time he was said to be sick but did not produce a medical certificate. Only when the court insisted on a medical certificate did they quickly come up with one.
Even then, the medical certificate did not say what sickness was ailing him and whether it was serious enough to cause him to be bedridden -- and therefore not fit enough to come to court. He could have suffered only a splinter in his little finger, which would mean there should be no reason he could not attend court. The judge, however, gave Gan the benefit of the doubt and let him off the hook that time.
Today, the court was told that Gan had gone for training but they did not know where and what the training was all about. The prosecution said they wanted to amend the charges against me and the court then read out the new charges. I refused to reply to the charges and instead protested that the prosecution is delaying the trial and would be seeking a postponement, yet again. I demanded to know why Gan was not in court as he should have been.
The judge told me to just reply to the charges and I replied, “Not guilty,” and in the same breath lodged my protest to the court.
The judge then asked the prosecutor as to what happened to Gan but they could not reply. She also asked whether the subpoena had been served on Gan and the prosecutor replied that it may have but he does not know and does not have any confirmation.
The judge then called for a short recess and asked the prosecutor to find out. When court resumed, the prosecutor said that Gan had gone to Taiwan for a course. They did not, however, know when he had gone to Taiwan or what course he was taking. The prosecutor also confirmed that the subpoena had not, after all, been served on Gan because he had skipped the country before they could serve it on him.
One of my lawyers, Gobin Singh Deo, then stood up and took the prosecutor to task. Gan, being a very senior police officer (rank of Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner or something like that), knows the procedure. The court has priority over a course or training program and Gan knew that my trial would resume today. He, therefore, should have been in court and not in Taiwan (to learn how to plant vegetables or whatever).
Gobin then retorted that it appears like the prosecution is intentionally delaying my trial until after March 2009 (meaning, of course, after Najib takes over as Prime Minister) and the prosecutor quickly jumped to his feet and protested. Gobin then said if this is not true why is the prosecutor so fast on his feet?
Yes, I smell a rat. It appears very much so like they are trying to prevent Gan from testifying. He was the one who made the police report against me and the prosecution has already examined him. So it is now our turn to cross-examine him but the prosecution seems to be preventing that from happening.
We will now have to wait until February to get our hands on Gan. And we are going to do that. There is no way in hell the prosecution is going to keep Gan away from us. We want him on the stand where Gobin can tear him to pieces. He made a police report against me and he wants me sent to jail. He was the one who investigated the Altantuya murder. We want the world to know how the investigation was conducted and how much of what they discovered was hidden from the public, even if I have to lose my case in the process and get sent to jail for two years.
Before I sign off, I want to thank all those who sent in donations to Michal for his and his wife’s medical treatment. In about three days or so, slightly over RM75,000 went into his son’s, Kevin’s, bank account. This is most generous indeed and just goes to show how compassionate Malaysians can be if they want to.
I shall make sure that the bank statement plus the medical bills are published so that you can see how much came in and how the money was spent.
I also want to offer my condolences to the family of Syukree Hussain who died of a heart attack two days ago. This young man just started working for Malaysia Today as a freelance reporter and you may have read some of his pieces, all in Bahasa Malaysia. He was supposed to have joined us in Terengganu from the 5th to the 18th January so that we could update you with daily news reports on the by-election. He had promised to write four or five items a day. Alfatihah to comrade Syukree Hussain. As they say: only the good die young and you were certainly very young to have died so suddenly. But then that is God’s design and who are we to question God’s wisdom? Till we meet again, Syukree. It was a very short association that we had but it will be one that will forever be in my memory. May you rest in peace.
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