Latif: RPK has sponsors
(The Star) – 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.
“We can tell who Raja Petra supports by reading his blog. It is somebody he is aligned to or perhaps he is being used by this person or organisation,” he said.
Dr Abdul Latif urged the police and Immigration Department to intensify their probe in exposing the sponsor’s identity.
He also claimed that other bloggers could be part of a syndicate to tarnish the country’s good name but that only Raja Petra was special enough to have been sponsored on an overseas trip.
Dr Abdul Latif said that although there was freedom of speech in the country, bloggers should not “force” people to accept their views.
“When others oppose their views, the bloggers accuse them of not being democratic. There must be a balance,” he added.
