PROMINENT blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has upped the ante by refusing to post a RM5,000 bail.

No, he is not your everyday salary man, finding it hard to get the money. Many supporters are ready to chip in. Besides, his Malaysia Today website had raised five times that amount within hours to post his bail. So money is not a problem. Never was. The blogger instead chose to be jailed after he was charged in court for sedition and a day later, yesterday, he even refused to see his wife, Marina Abdullah, leaving her speculating to the media that her husband might be on a hunger strike. How long Raja Petra intends to stay in prison is anybody’s guess — a week, a month or all the way until the trial opens on Oct 6? Now that he has cast himself into a corner, he needs a honorable way out of the bail impasse. Although born a royal, the 58-year-old is no stranger to the hard life. He was detained under the Internal Secutiry Act (ISA) in April 2001 along with other reformasi activists like Tian Chua, Ezam Mohd Nor, Hishamuddin Rais and Saari Sungib, but unlike them — they ended up in Kamunting for two years — he did not see out the initial 60-day detention period. He was released on June 2. During his 52-day detention, he started a hunger strike that very nearly did him in, according to a narration by this member of the Selangor Royal family in his book From Prince to Prisoner. The book somewhat reveals his mind. For him victory or defeat is all part of a mind game that he has played many times before, and quite notably as the brains behind the six-year-old Free Anwar campaign that kept Anwar Ibrahim’s name in public domain while he was in prison. Raja Petra has an acute political sense. A month before Anwar was freed in 2004, he abandoned the Free Anwar website and started Malaysia Today. This latest sedition charge is probably the most serious “mind battle” he has fought. The action arises out of an article he posted on his website attempting to connect the high and mighty with the murder of a Mongolian beauty. By opting not to post bail, he is upping the ante where it counts most —in the battlefield that is public opinion where victory or defeat is won not on facts but on public perception of right or wrong, or victim and oppressor. No matter what, Raja Petra wants the underdog tag be- cause, often, the public is for the battered little guy. Going to prison and coming out a lot slimmer wins public applause more then anything else. Add in the bravado, and you have a explosive mix. “It’s war,” he told reporters as he was led away to prison. “I am happy. I want to challenge the government. We bloggers have declared war on the government. We are not scared of the government. The government should be scared of us.” Civil society is already rooting for him going by the numerous comments slamming the authorities for invoking the archaic Sedition Act, 1948. “In our view the sedition charge is malicious and without merit. It is also politically motivated and aimed at silencing one of the most eloquent, dedicated and uncompromising voices speaking in defence of the rights of Malaysians and against the abuse of power stemming from the highest level of government and authority,” said a joint statement from various NGOs. Long before the trial starts, Raja Petra may have already won the war in the minds of the people.

Source: Malay Mail – May 8, 2008