Raja Petra LIED yet again and amazingly some people believe it!

Raja Petra LIED yet again and amazingly some people believe it!

Fatimah Zuhri

1. It always amazes me the amount of people that are so willingly allowed themselve be taken for a ride just because of their blind hatred towards the ruling Government.

2. I was about to upload a cool video about overcoming different types of negative addiction in Facebook when I received a call from a friend. Apparently the BBC News International has been flooded by hate mails accusing the BBC of all sort of things in regards to Raja Petra.

3. At first I was puzzled but when she mentioned the name Petra and Hardtalk I realized that I read somewhere (in twitter i think) that was someone saying abt Petra being on Hardtalk. I have stop going to Petra's website for sometime now so I was unaware of his latest bullshit. Besides, I sincerely thought that after numerous expose on Petra's previous lies and innuendos, you would think Malaysian would "get it". Sadly that is not the case.

4. Guys/gals, please listen. Raja Petra was NEVER invited nor was he ever scheduled to be interviewed by the BBC. It was all a LIE. None of the 5 current producers of BBC Hardtalk ever invited Petra before to be on the programme. Yes, Anwar's Pakistani boys did managed to persuade The Guardian to do a piece on Petra abt a couple of weeks back but there has not been very much success with the other media (printed or electronic) in UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg2m/episodes/upcoming?page=1

5. When I heard what my friend was saying, I reluctantly browse Raja Petra's website and there was this notice stating that the "scheduled BBC Hardtalk with Raja Petra" was canceled basically because :

a) BBC received complaint from Malaysian Govt.

b) BBC lawyer's advise the production team to cancel it to avoid legal repercussion

7. Wow! This seems like a plot in Mario Puzo's mafia novel. Malaysian Government has managed to outmuscle the largest broadcasting organization in the world. Even China, a country which is much more important economically and militarily could not do what Malaysia is doing when BBC had the exiled Tibetan leaders or Chinese dissidents.

8. When I read the explanation given to the reason why it was cancelled, I told my hubby about it and we laughed but when we scrolled down we almost choked when we saw over 40 angry comments directing at BBC. Now, even TheMalaysianInsider is putting this on their website as "news".

9. Seriously, I am sitting and wondering, how many people out there really believed every words that is written by this proven liar ? It really baffles me. What further proof does a person need ?

10. Why would anyone sent hate email to BBC over this issue? Do you guys/gals know how dumb you all look at the moment? Was there any effort to at least do a bit of research first before sending those hate mails? If you have done your research, you would know :

a) Every Hardtalk programme have different producers. If it involves sports personality, it is Tama Muru (i.e. Sampras, Schumacher). If it involves leader of a nation, it is either Jamieson or Hancock (i.e. Mahathir, Prince Al-Waleed). If it involves controversial personalities/political dissidents (i.e. Geert Wilders, Hirsi Ali) it is Jessica Williams. If it involves social/religious personalities (i.e. 2005 Anwar was invited as a reformer of East-West rel lol) then the it would be Ms Osborne. If we look at the category, Raja Petra would suit the controversial/dissident list! The only reason why Ms Osborne name came up is because she was the producer who invited Anwar to Hardtalk in May 10th 2005.

Is this suprising? For me it is a big NO. Afterall these were the same group of people who used the Agong's name in their failed 16 Sept attempt. They would use ANYONE to get what they want.

c) The only information that stated Raja Petra is going to be interviewed by BBC on 1st September comes from RPK's own website. You would think that TheMalaysiaInsider, Sin Jew as well as The Star being a "news organization" would at least do their journalistic investigation first before publishing it on their website. I am not a journalist but shouldn't these journalist enquire regarding this matter with BBC first before publishing it? The title on TMI is just disgusting and another pathetic attempt to discredit the Government.

d) BBC HardTalk had conducted interviewes with :

i - Chinese dissidents - The Chinese Govt was extremely angry but BBC did not care

ii - Hamas leaders - The Israelis Govt was angry multiple times but even the influential pro-zionist NGOs fail to scare BBC

iii - Salamn Rushdie - Bomb threats were issued countless times but BBC did not care

iv - Anwar Ibrahim - The Malaysian Govt was displeased but BBC did not care

v - Russian critics - The Russian Govt was pissed but BBC was not scare

vi - Holocaust denier - Many people were angry but BBC still continue with the show

vii - Racist (i.e. Geert Wilder) - I was extremely pissed as did many others but BBC did not care, they even interviewed him twice in 1 month!

So why would BBC be scared of Malaysia? LOL It just does not make sense!

11. The bloke is a liar! Period. How long will people realise this? Seriously I do not know whether to cry or to laugh at this. I am going to be frank here. I am sure most of the people who sent hate emails to BBC are Malaysian Chinese students who are studying here. Listen here, Raja Petra is using your emotion to achieve what his paymaster is asking from him. He is a lonely bankrupted bloke (have you ever asked how he can live in UK ?). We all know why he created this lie. He wants to be seen as the figure whom the Govt cannot prosecute no matter whatever he does. He hopes to impress the rebellious young mind. This has been done before of course by Hishamudin Rais in the 70s and 80s. The difference is Petra is a wee bit smarter than Rais.

13. Yes, the things he wrote - fairness, equality, etc - all sounds like music to one's ear. But he does not mean a single word of it. Cant you see he is playing with your emotion? Look at the things he has written over the past 2 years. It is all aim to instill hatred to all the major institutions in this country. How long are you going to be manipulated by this liar and his lies?

14. MCA and GERAKAN need to really step up their effort in this. If I may, the first thing they need to do is to see Petra as their enemy. Too many times in UK and in Malaysia, I have seen many of their members go weak at the mention of Petra's name especially amongst their youth. It is sad because they really think Petra is fighting for them when in reality that is not the case.


Read Also: RPK's HARDtalk with BBC cancelled, too hot for M'sian gov't...

And this is what BBC has to say : No political pressure to drop RPK from HARDtalk

Raja Petra Kamaruddin

(Malaysiakini)- The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has denied that it bowed to pressure from the Malaysian government to drop its HARDtalk interview with infamous blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, which was slated to be aired today.

"The suggestion that the item was dropped due to political pressure is untrue," BBC told Malaysiakini in an emailed statement early this morning.

The broadcaster's statement came hot on the heels of speculation that the Malaysian government exerted pressure on BBC to snuff out the interview with the controversial member of the Selangor royal family who is in self-imposed exile in London.

The Malaysian blogosphere has been rife with talk that the station dropped the interview with Raja Petra, with some suggesting that this may be done in order to appease Putrajaya.

This followed a statement posted on Aug 29 on Malaysia Today, a website owned and operated by Raja Petra, that the much anticipated interview was cancelled.

In his statement, HARDtalk producer Bridget Osborne said "questions they would delve into, which would be very sensitive in nature and critical of the government, would run foul of the Malaysian government."

Raja Petra also posted a screen capture of a Facebook conversation he had with a BBC planning editor, Nicholas David Blakemore, detailing the broadcaster's suggestion for an interview as proof that he was indeed approached by BBC in the bid to quash accusations that he had lied about the HARDtalk interview.

According to BBC Global News senior press officer Peter Connors, the BBC regularly researched many stories for its programmes, one of which was an interview with Raja Petra on HARDtalk, though not all eventually went to air.

"It is the normal process of news and current affairs throughout the media that not all make it to air for a variety of editorial reasons," the BBC representative explained in the statement.

'Issues of defamation'

One of BBC's better-known talk shows

In the Raja Petra case, Connors conceded that they cancelled the interview because of legal concerns.

"It became clear in our research any comprehensive interview with former Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra would prominently feature issues that are currently the subject of a current court case in Malaysia, which raise issues of defamation."

Rather than the fear of running foul of the Malaysian government, the BBC is contending that to report details about an ongoing court case may be construed as subjudice, which could lead to contempt of court.

Conners did not mention which court case he was referring to.

He also maintained that all BBC programmes adhered to the same strict editorial guidelines that ensure complete editorial independence and impartiality.

HARDtalk, a 30-minute talk show, prides itself on no-holds-barred interviews with controversial newsmakers around the world.

Notable Malaysians who have made it to the show's line-up included former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his arch-nemesis, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The cancellation of the Raja Petra interview raised eyebrows as it is very rare for the relatively independent BBC to axe controversial content, especially items on HARDtalk, which is globally hailed as a hard-hitting news programme.

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