Who is lying?

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied yesterday that he obstructed his deputy from seeing former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.”There was no hindrance. None,” Abdullah said.

Two days ago, Dr Mahathir made a shocking claim by saying Abdullah had recently prevented a meeting between him and Najib. “He said he would first have to get the permission of the prime minister. Apparently he did not get permission. So until now, he has not seen me. It would be terrible to think that the prime minister does not trust his deputy. In my time, I trusted my deputy until he did something funny. Otherwise, I trust my deputy,” Mahathir said.

So who is lying?

Raja Petra released

According to Malaysian Insider, maverick blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin has been released on bail.

After he was released, RPK told reporters that he met with two of the accused in the high profile Altantuya murder case, Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri. RPK claimed that, in prison, both the accused threatened him and RPK was advised by prison officials to quickly post bail and leave the prison.

But why would Sirul and Azilah threatened him? And did RPK deliberately land himself in prison in order to speak to the two and Razak Baginda? Brilliant! This is like a chapter from Prison Break.

Msia’Kini reports here.

Another Tsu Koon blunder

Former Penang Chief Minister landed himself in hot soup again. This time, a police report was lodged by members of the Penang Turf Club, accusing the Gerakan Chief of manipulating state affairs to favour the Penang Global City Center’s developer, Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd.

In the police report, Koh’s action was alleged to have caused the Penang state government to lose an estimated RM200 million in revenue, when the state government decidedly re-zone the turf club land to become “mixed development” status on its own.

“What kind of deal is this when the state does not want to make money from its land? Why did Koh help Abad save the money? Isn’t this against state interests?” asked Tan Kok Ping, one of the complainants.

If you are keen to go into details, click here to read Anil Netto’s post entitled, “Two hot potatoes in PGCC/Penang Turf Club deal“.

At the rate these scandals are unearthed, I wonder what will be left of Koh Tsu Koon and his Gerakan party by the next general elections.

Dr M finally recognises Anwar’s influence

“The urge to cross over, especially when there is no inherent loyalty to the party, is very strong. It can really happen. At first I wanted to dismiss this possibility. But in studying the situation, I feel there is great danger,” Mahathir told reporters yesterday.

For the first time, the ex-premier conceded that if the ruling BN continues to take Anwar’s claims of defection lightly, Anwar and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition could possibly form the next government very soon as signs of disgruntled MPs from Sabah and Sarawak crossing over to the opposition to make up the required numbers are real.

In the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, BN MP for Kimanis, Anifah Aman startled everybody when he told the house that there’s nothing wrong with defection. Anifah said, “If there is no more space in the existing bungalow house, what is the harm in them moving to a smaller house?” Following this, Malaysia Insider reported yesterday that there were cheers from opposition MPs and nods from Sabah BN backbenchers. Mahathir also stressed that BN component parties are not known to be loyal and are vulnerable to leaping over, in favour of Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat.

RPK expected to be released today

Update May 8th 2008, 4.56pm

According to M’siaKini, Marina posted bail at the PJ Sessions Court rightly after lunch hour. RPK’s lawyer, J Chandra said bail matters take 24 hours and the judge is not making any exceptions in this case. RPK shall be released by tomorrow.

Marina also said that RPK shall be brought to the Sessions Court tomorrow at 9.45am and he is expected to be released after necessary procedures are done with.

Original Post

At around 11am, Marina managed to meet and spoke with RPK. She said RPK agreed to post bail and also started to eat and drink.

At 12.30pm, Marina arrived at the PJ Sessions court to arrange the bail posting. Now it is believed that everyone’s waiting for RPK’s release.

If he stays behind bars, he draws worldwide attention to Malaysia. If he walks free, he continues blogging. Either way, it’s to RPK’s advantage.

Bloggers unite for RPK

A vigil has been organised tonight at 9.00pm at the entrance of the Sungai Bulon prison. According to a post in Malaysia Today here, the event is meant to be a peaceful show of support for detained maverick blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin.