RPK reveals his 'source' on Altantuya allegations

Popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, in a posting today, revealed what he claimed was his source for his sensational allegation that Malaysia’s first lady Rosmah Mansor was at the scene when a Mongolian woman was murdered.

According to Raja Petra, the information came from Lt Kol Azmi Zainal Abidin, who is the "number two in the Special Branch of the Military Intelligence".

In a posting which appeared in Raja Petra’s Malaysia Today website, the controversial blogger said he was put in touch with Lt Kol Azmi by one of his long-standing friends - Nik Azmi Nik Daud, who is an aide to Umno veteran leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Raja Petra’s revelations were made in his trademark colourful style in the form of a dialogue between him and his police interrogators when he was detained under the Internal Security Act last August.

When asked by his interrogators whether he could trust his source since he did not know him, Raja Petra reportedly answered: “I don’t know him well enough to trust him all the way. But the person who introduced us is a very old friend.

“I’ve known him for about 45 years, longer than I’ve known my wife. And I trust my friend. My friend gave me his personal assurance that the story is legit.”

According to Raja Petra, he had also sought help from a few other people to vouch for Lt Kol Azmi’s credibility, among them PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim through his aide, Din Merican.

“I also asked John Pang, who also works for Ku Li (Tengku Razaleigh), to check with Ku Li whether Lt Kol Azmi’s information is reliable. I told John what Lt Kol Azmi told us and asked him to inform Ku Li about it. John confirmed that Lt Kol Azmi told Ku Li the same thing and that the information is reliable.”

Pang, who is an aide to Razaleigh, said he did receive a phone call from Raja Petra regarding the matter.

“Yes, Raja Petra did ask me about it and I confirmed that Ku Li was aware of the story,” said Pang when contacted today.

He added that his boss did not dispute Raja Petra’s account pertaining to his contact with Lt Kol Azmi.

Razaleigh has declined to comment apart from saying, “Read the (Raja Petra’s) blog.”

According to Pang, Nik Azmi is not an official member of Razaleigh's staff.

Misgivings in signing statutory declaration

Raja Petra also revealed that he had misgivings in signing a statutory declaration based on the information which he received from Lt Kol Azmi.

“I told Bull (Nik Azmi) I was a bit worried about signing a statutory declaration because the government will surely arrest and charge me if I do. I felt an article would be safer.

“But Bull disagreed. He felt an article was not strong enough. Bull said if anything happens to me they would go to court to testify that what I had signed is the truth. Bull assured me they would not allow me to rot in jail. So, on June 18 (2008), I signed the statutory declaration.”

Raja Petra, 59, has been charged for criminal defamation in a statutory declaration which he signed implicating Rosmah, who is wife of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, and two others in the grisly murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.

He has also charged with sedition for his posting ‘Let’s send Altantuya murderers to hell’, but he failed to turn up in court last month.

Sessions judge Rozina Ayob had subsequently issued an arrest warrant for Raja Petra. Now a fugitive, Raja Petra’s whereabouts is unknown.

Raja Petra also claimed that former minister Jamaluddin Jarjis, who is from Najib’s home state of Pahang, had contacted him to “make a deal”.

“We drove to a roadside stall in Jalan Ipoh (in Kuala Lumpur) and sat there and talked. JJ (Jamaluddin Jarjis) told me that Najib had asked him to meet me to make a deal. I asked him whether Najib really knows we are meeting and whether he had endorsed or sanctioned the meeting and JJ replied that our meeting was on Najib’s instructions,” Raja Petra allegedly told his interrogators.

“We spent about an hour talking. The bottom line is he wanted me to stop writing about Najib and Altantuya. He also asked me whether I could delay my sedition trial until Najib becomes the prime minister. Once Najib is installed as prime minister, they will drop the charges against me. I will also receive a monthly allowance of RM30,000 for my cooperation. He didn’t say for how long though.”

Raja Petra said that he did not make the deal and soon after he signed the statutory declaration.

Meanwhile, veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said that Raja Petra’s latest revelation has again show the urgent need for a royal commission to probe the scandal.

“I had repeatedly made in Parliament for a royal commission of inquiry to deal with all the allegations haunting and hounding Najib, especially as he had said that he was innocent and had not done anything wrong,” he said.

Malaysiakini
06/05/09