Raja Perta Kamarudin, the popular political blogger, living in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom since 2009, and currently at the center of allegations of hate-speech, issued an apology yesterday to Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Amar Singh, as well as to the Sikh community, for statements that he made insulting their faith.
Writing in his blog Malaysia Today, his mea culpa included the following:
“I was told a Sikh’s turban is a very sacred item and they do not take too kindly to anyone making fun of it. For that, I would like to sincerely apologize. I also apologize to Amar Singh because, as much as I may disagree with him, that disagreement should not be reduced to the level of insulting his religion.”
Raja Petra also extended his apologies to several members of the Sikh community, namely current Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, the late Karpal Singh, and lawyers Amarjit Sidhu and Manjeet Singh Dhillon, who had all acted as his legal team, pro bono, after he was detained under the Internal Securities Act in 2008.
“They also helped me in other ways, which I am not at liberty to mention, and which helped me settle down in the UK after I left Malaysia in February 2009.”
You can read his full apology here.
Members of the Sikh community, as well as non-Sikh Malaysians, were surprised and upset by the comments made regarding Amar Singh’s turban, which many saw as an affront to the faith.
His offending blog post that went up last Friday was titled “Amar Singh’s turban must be too tight” in a back and forth the two were having over allegations that police absconded with over RM40 million (US$10 million) in cash from May raids on Najib-linked properties.
In Sikhism, the turban, also known as the dastaar, is considered an article of faith that represents honor, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. Malaysia has a community of over 170,000 Sikhs, and respecting the country’s multi-ethnic fabric has been central to the country’s ethos.
Many members of the public filed police reports on the matter, alleging hate speech, while Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo mused that the country might be in need of more stringent laws when it came to insulting the faiths of others.
