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PETALING JAYA, 10 JANUARY, 2012: Self-exiled blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said he was the one who approached New Straits Times to be interviewed, refuting the perception that he consented to the interview session by the paper.



"First of all, I did not ‘consent’ to the interview. Consent is hardly the right word to use when it was I who asked to be interviewed. Yes, they did not approach me. I approached the NST," said Raja Petra in his portal Malaysia Today.



He said some have questioned on why he had 'consented' to the interview by various mainstream media knowing that “they would distort his statement, or at least sensationalize it and focus on the parts ‘damaging’ to the opposition while blacking out the parts that are damaging to the government”.

People had also questioned why the editor and founder of the Malaysia Today who initiated the boycott towards New Staits Time, Utusan Malaysia and TV3 (along with the late Rustam Sani, Zul Sulong and political cartoonist, Zunar) had agreed to talk to the 'enemy'.

To this Raja Petra said he has his reasons and he does not have to explain why and what he does but hinted that it’s part of his “strategy” behind what he's doing.

"If I reveal my strategy then it is no longer a strategy. Anyway, who are you that I need to confide everything I do to?

"As long as those in my team and in my circle know what I am doing, that is good enough for me. They have been told and they know what I am up to although some of them may cringe at my modus operandi and the unpredictable manner in how I respond to questions," he explained.

He said all these while he has always been unpredictable and unconventional and that is nothing new and that even PKR had found him to be unpredictable and unconventional.

He added that there have been occasions when the PKR leadership “discussed his actions during the supreme council meetings, which even the party found unpalatable”.

“My response was, if they don’t like what I do then sack me. But don’t expect me to do things their way. I do things my way and if that is not acceptable to the party then I will move on.”

He also said when he started Malaysia Today, his founding charter was that the portal will be independent and will not take sides.

"No one determines the rules in how I operate – not the government, not the opposition," he said.

He said if he wishes to work with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he turned against Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that is his choice, pointing out that he did just that in 2006 and 2007.

"Of course, Azmin Ali whacked me publicly during the PKR convention in Penang for ‘selling out’ to Dr Mahathir. But why must I explain to Azmin what I am doing? Who is he to me that I need to confide in him?" said Raja Petra.

Malaysia has seized elephant tusks worth 2.4 million ringgit ($760,000) from South Africa in the first haul of smuggled ivory destined for the Southeast Asian country, according to officials.

The tusks weighing some 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) were discovered during inspections at the busy Port Klang in central Selangor state, said Azis Yacub, the state's customs director, in a statement.

Recently, Malaysia has seized several large shipments of African ivory, but all were destined for other countries, making Friday's haul "an unusual development," according to wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

The latest shipment from Cape Town was declared as carrying "polyester and nylon strand matting," but television set boxes, containing the tusks, and some used tyres were found in the back of the container, Azis Yacub said.

The shipping manifest listed a Malaysian company as importer and authorities were investigating the case, he added.

TRAFFIC said arrests and prosecutions should follow the haul and warned other regional countries to be on the alert as smugglers will seek other routes.

"Malaysia has ramped-up its efforts to stem ivory smuggling through the country and that?s great news," said Kanitha Krishnasamy, an official with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

"Now thorough diligent investigations both in Malaysia and South Africa, arrests and prosecutions must follow."

Malaysian customs made four large ivory seizures of an unprecedented total of some six tonnes in 2011, according to TRAFFIC. End-use markets include China and Thailand.

In December, TRAFFIC called 2011 the worst year for African elephants because of a record number of large ivory hauls globally, weighing an estimated 23 tonnes and representing more than 2,500 elephants.

Ivory smuggling has increased sharply since 2007, TRAFFIC said.

In an exclusive interview outside a Manchester polling place, Ron Paul lashed out at fellow Republicans for making unfair and ignorant attacks on Mitt Romney's business record.

"I think they're wrong. I think they're totally misunderstanding the way the market works," Paul told me. "They are either just demagoguing or they don't have the vaguest idea how the market works."

Paul also came to Romney's defense for saying " I like to be able to fire people."

"I think they're unfairly attacking him on that issue because he never really literally said that," Paul said. "They've taken him way out of context. … He wants to fire companies."

In Paul's view, Romney is right to say that he created jobs by restructuring companies.

"I think they're way overboard on saying that he wants to fire people, he doesn't care, Paul said. "You save companies, you save jobs when you reorganize companies that are going to go bankrupt. And they don't understand that."

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