YOURSAY 'Now it appears you would be allowed to return to Malaysia with all charges acquitted. Umno has got you.'

your say Changeagent: The armchair critics that RPK (Raja Petra Kamarudin) is mocking are the same people who had contributed to him financially and kept a vigil for his family when he was persecuted, broken and hungry.

While the monetary contributions might had been a pittance, he should appreciate that every cent of it was clean, honest and hard-earned money, unlike the dirty money that he is now being paid.

But more importantly, it wouldn't be too far-fetch to say that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of armchair critics were almost single-handedly inspired by RPK himself to exercise their political voice.

Normal everyday people who have been inspired to be bold, principled and fearless in demanding the truth from the ruling elites, and questioning their excesses and corrupt practices. People who have been taught well to think for themselves based on hard facts and sound reasoning, not government propaganda.

So, thanks to RPK for all that he has inspired the armchair critics to be, as well as the good old memories. We, the armchair critics, are now ready to take over his baton.

VP Biden: The target audience for RPK are those who read the BN's propaganda - the mainstream media. This fits in well with BN's media strategy.

To turn to BN's media is a clear indication ABU (Anything but Umno) is not part of Raja Petra's agenda and neither is exposing Najib's hand in the Scorpene RM500 million kickback scandal, Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder, etc.

Cinaputra: RPK insinuated, "Change in government not change of government". I am trying to read between the lines.

The BN regime certainly can't change (for the better, that is) not when there are so many warlords having their grubby fingers in the cookie jar.

The gravy train is too good to pass up and General Jibby is not in control of his colonels. So the alternative is Pakatan, with or without Anwar.

Justice: Raja Petra, I noticed that from the time your son was in jail for stealing, your tone started to change. You were more critical of Anwar Ibrahim just before the court acquitted your son and your criticism against Anwar got worse after that.

It is clear for all to see the trade-off. Now it appears you would be allowed to return to Malaysia with all charges acquitted. Umno has got you.

Bernard Phillips: As one reader has noted, RPK once took a tough stand against Umno and they broke him morally, spiritually and financially. So unless we have walked in his shoes, it is terribly unfair to judge the man.

I have long followed his blogs and his speeches and let me say RPK is definitely one man who have brought to light a lot of the Umno-BN government's political abuses, corruption and scandals.

And he had the courage to do it openly and without fear. And in doing so he risked all. So he may have his own reasons for the latest statements and I say, let him be.

Let us not forget that Umno is not just fighting to win political power in the next GE but many of their present and past leaders will be fighting to stay out of prision as well. They will stop at nothing.

And most definitely, we will see more leaders from the opposition parties and NGOs doing the same in the lead up to the elections.

But thanks to RPK, I have already decided to vote ABU (Anything but Umno) and nothing is going to change my mind.

Cannon: Raja Petra's legs run faster than his mouth. He flees from this country to escape the consequence of his verbal diarrhoea, while Anwar elects to stay put, stand up against the full fury of this immoral regime and lead the struggle for a better future for all Malaysians.

Raja Petra is unfit to criticise Anwar as being unfit to be PM.

Lam Woonsiong : Hey Raja Petra, so much noise on Anwar, but why so quiet on the Cowgate affair?

Werewolves: I think the key point that Raja Petra tried to drive home is that we should strive to change the current government with a better one, even without Anwar.

We should not focus our attention on getting Anwar as the next PM but focus on getting Pakatan as our next government. Pakatan Rakyat must tell us who is going to be the next PM if Anwar is out of the picture.

Milosevic: We do not know whether Anwar is guilty or not - even the all-knowing RPK is only 90% sure. Even if Anwar's behaviour raises many questions, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

But let's assume Anwar is guilty. He has already spent many years in jail. Does he deserve to be in jail for many more years for something RPK himself has said is a private matter, and where the legal procedure has been a joke?

This is the fundamental issue now, not whether Anwar deserves to be PM or not. RPK has been malicious, and is throwing his seeming oppositionist credentials to strike at Anwar. This is below the belt.

As for nameless armchair critics, perhaps many do not crave publicity the way RPK does, nor can they fly in and out of countries if they get into trouble. RPK has made the leap from the armchair to the high horse.

Democracy in Malaysia must go beyond opposition parties and noisy, royal democrats to reflect ordinary opinion, nameless and armchair too, and common decency.

Nik V: None of us should or can deny that RPK has done so much to change the way we see Malaysia's politics. He gave much personality and attitude to the concept of "damn to BN and darn to Pakatan".

Perhaps the very thing we like about his personality when he is attacking BN with so much arrogance and attitude has often also worked against him. He is so full of himself and extremely arrogant and makes no bones about it.

He may have figured that his current move was extremely in-your-face smart. But perhaps in his big-headedness, arrogance and false sense of grandeur of himself, he may have undermined efforts of others and shifted some naive voters back to BN.

So we need to take a cue from him. Pakatan has to be more than about Anwar. So the same must be said that our desire for a better Malaysia has to be more than about RPK. Vote for change.

Mohan Ghandi: Raja Petra, I am an opposition voter and was an ardent follower of your portal and even went to hear you speak in Brickfields.

Now, you are a goner because you have lost the plot. You don't accept criticism against you but you expect others to accept your views and flip-flops.

Enjoy your re-habilitation by Umno. We are better off without the turncoats.

SusahKes : Armchair critic, eh? Well, at least I wasn't gulping fish and chips or having a pint during Bersih 2.0.

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