Making a turban mountain out of a wisecrack molehill
KTEMOC KONSIDERS
This is sheer over-the-top and unnecessary fanning of a wee campfire into a raging conflagration. I am disappointed that the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council is making a turban mountain out of RPK’s cheeky molehill response to Amar Singh’s warning-threat to him.
RPK did blog on the disparity between police and Najib’s numbers in the amount of cash taken away from Najib’s residences by police for investigation. There was then a war of words between the two, with the police commissioner describing RPK as not a investigative reporter but a mercenary writer.
Earlier, Amar Singh did warn RPK about his post – NSTreported:
Amar Singh has challenged blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin, to be brave and come forward to lodge a police report in Malaysia if he has credible information that police had stolen RM43.3million believed to belong to Umno.
“I will not pay heed to such a writer. RPK claims to be an investigative journalist, but looks very far from that.
“This is a frivolous and vexatious accusation against the police and I will not stay quiet against such an accusation.
“This is a baseless accusation. If he has such information on him, please lodge a police report in Malaysia, and don’t hide behind the cyber curtain.
“So, I am urging him to be brave. Action will be taken against him if the report is proven false,”
What RPK then wrote was “Amar Singh Ishar Singh’s turban must be too tight that it is restricting the flow of blood to his brain”.
RPK was cheekily referring to the possibility of poor flow of blood to Amar Singh’s brain, thus making the policeman’s thinking naive in calling him (RPK) ‘mercenary writer’. RPK retorted: Everyone is a mercenary, Amar Singh included. We all work for money, every single human being in this world. Even Mother Teresa needed money, plenty of money, to do what she did. What, did you think Mother Teresa just raised her hands to the sky and prayed to God for help and bread dropped from the sky?
RPK’s line above, namely, “Amar Singh Ishar Singh’s turban must be too tight that it is restricting the flow of blood to his brain” plus his following clarification have nothing to do with the subject of Sikh turban per se, but rather, Amar Singh’s reasoning powers.
As I mentioned earlier, Amar Singh obviously has (a) ultra sensitive feelings and (b) no sense of humour, perhaps indirectly proving RPK’s point. His accusation of RPK being racist in this instance has been pathetic and irrelevant, especially after his determined resolve not to pay any heed to such a writer.
And the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council has definitely gone over board by commenting that RPK’s line has been “vicious” and also likely to create hate and disrespect towards the Sikh community in Malaysia.
