The Home Ministry has explained Malaysia’s failure to extradite fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin from the UK to face criminal charges at home.

hishammuddin hussien "If the stand and policy of (a) particular state does not allow it to extradite (him) to come home and face justice, what else can we do?" asked Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

"Do we want to go inside the state, kidnap him and smuggle him out like a terrorist? Not possible, that is not our way.”

Hishammuddin was asked to respond to Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who had asked yesterday if the police are twiddling their thumbs in securing the return of the popular blogger.

"I would like to state that we know (about Raja Petra, but his extradition requires a) relationship with the third country... this was what the Umno Youth chief asked the police to act upon yesterday,” said the minister.

"In truth, the police have met their counterpart from the UK's Metropolitan Police. Our intelligence agencies have also met their opposite numbers in UK and Wisma Putra has opened a two-way dialogue with them. Anything like this requires cooperation between both parties.”

Hishammuddin, speaking to reporters in the Parliament lobby today, also described Khairy's jibe against the police and the inspector-general of police as “unfair”.

‘Should we kidnap RPK?’

Asked how the UK government is cooperating, Hishammuddin said the two governments hold differing viewpoints on the matter.

"Like I have said, they have their own position and we must respect that position. So we can do? Unless you want to kidnap him?" posed the minister.

Raja Petra was separately charged with sedition and three counts of criminal defamation last year.

azlan However, he was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in both matters, as the prosecution could not serve the warrant of arrest on him despite several postponements.

He surfaced almost a year later on May 23 when he spoke during a public lecture in London.

The same day, he posted pictures of himself and his wife in front of the Metropolitan Police headquarters in an obvious attempt to mock the Malaysian authorities.