The Great RPK "Mahn-mahn" hunt

PETALING JAYA: The person or organisation sponsoring Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarud­din’s stay in London is “somebody that he constantly supports in his articles”, said Umno supreme council member Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad.

He alleged that the reason for sponsoring Raja Petra – commonly known as RPK – was due to him being “special” to the particular individual or group.

“How can a bankrupt man afford to stay in a luxury apartment and use a foreign passport?

“He is obviously financed by someone and I am wondering if other bloggers are being sponsored as well,” said Dr Abdul Latif yesterday.

He was commenting on Raja Petra who is suspected to have exited Malaysia using a foreign passport.

It was recently reported that he is currently holed up at the posh Trinity Court Apartments in Glou­cester Terrace, Bayswater in London.

Dr Abdul Latif also likened Raja Petra’s escape from Malaysia to a Hollywood spy movie, in which passports were given to secret agents in order for them to hide out in other countries.

(read the rest of this dude's crappy neo-spy-novel conspiracy theory here)

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

Wow...sounds like this Datuk Dr Latiff has better intelligence (no punny references to mental ability intended here) than our world-renowned PDRM SB! From the confidence he shows in exerting his views about RPK's whereabouts, how he got out of the country, who's sponsoring him, etc, Latiff seems to be privy to information that even our super snoops in SB are not sure of. I mean, if even ordinary citizens like Utusan journos and Latiff knows where and how RPK escaped, surely there's no problem for our cops to get him, right​​​? So what's all this nonsense from Musa Hasan about pleading to Interpol and London for help? It's just pure poppycock!

How difficult can it be to find a fat foreign dude in London, what with his Muslim name and pictures and sensational news about him all over the internet and a KNOWN ADDRESS?

Since this is all open knowledge – RPK's mode of escape being completely exposed by Utusan and an UMNO member – really: what's the problem with bringing him in? Surely our cops can't be THAT incompetent? All they need to do is contact the London Met, ask them nicely to go to Trinity Court and put the guy in cuffs. No investigation necessary what! And the Met would also get to bust one more illegal passport cum international criminal fugitive, so that's really good press for them – what an incentive!

But our police here talking like it's so damn hard. Got to ask la, request la, etc.

Hello! Scotland Yard and Interpol are two of the most respected police bodies in the world. They don't screw around, nor are they beholden to political masters like our boys in blue here. If they're tasked to be on a job, you can be sure that they'll do their damndest to finish it properly!

And what's all this nonsense about RPK using a fake passport to flee the country? HELLO! It's not like RPK is so anonymous that he can saunter into KLIA past hundreds of cops, airport security, airport and immigration staff, CCTVs etc and fly off into oblivion! Well, there's also the theory that he smuggled himself into Thailand then flew off there...That's more plausible, all RPK would need is one helluva good fake passport. But like I said earlier, it's not likely that a well-known fugitive can remain so anonymous!

What we have here really sounds like intensive myth-building. An elaborate sandiwara played out between the powers-that-be and RPK. I don't believe for a moment that the cops don't know where RPK is because the Malaysian SB is world-renowned as one of the best spy agencies in the world. And if the cops know where he is, you can be sure that the powers-that-be do too.

What I think is really happening is that RPK and the powers-that-be have each other by the balls. Why?

If the cops grab RPK now, he will have to face his multiple existing criminal charges and civil suits PLUS additional charges of evading arrest, illegally leaving the country, contempt of court, etc for which he will be most definitely convicted.

BUT...

If the powers-that-be continue to persecute him, RPK gets to go to court with more of his sensational revelations made public in the MSM, AND he gets elevated to hero-martyr status. This will galvanise the electorate against the present powers-that-be.

So...given this scenario the question is, who's got more to lose?

Well, from the govt's reluctance to bring RPK in, it looks like RPK has the upper hand. But if that is so, the cops cannot justify doing nothing about the Malaysia's most famous fugitive. Especially since he's very obviously alive and kicking and still very much in the limelight on Malaysia Today!

Thus, the need for this elaborate melodrama about how difficult it is to find RPK, how his political connections can fund his luxurious fugitive lifestyle, and other myths designed to disguise the cops' "mahn-mahn lai" attitude towards catching RPK.

So to me, this whole thing is a hoax - nothing more than an elaborate smokescreen raised to hide the game of “political chicken” that's going on behind the scenes. We'll just have to see who blinks first.

Which leads us to the next question – just what cards do RPK hold to make the powers-that-be so afraid that they don't dare lay their hands on him?

Mahn-mahn lai...surely there's more melodrama coming our way soon!