Best remembered as the driving force behind the highly contentious news portal Malaysia Today, local political commentator Raja Petra Kamarudin has passed away at the age of 74.
The news was confirmed by his wife, Marina Lee Abdullah, and his brother, Raja Idris, earlier this morning in a brief message that was sent to FMT. According to his widow, Raja Petra’s death has been attributed to a blood infection that spread to his lungs and liver. Funerary details are expected to be announced imminently by the surviving members of his family, most of whom are based in the United Kingdom.
Raja Petra Kamarudin passes away at 74
Born in Surrey, England on 27th September 1950, Raja Petra Kamarudin hails from a prestigious lineage. Being a member of the Selangor Royal Family, he was the nephew of the late Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, who was also the eleventh Yang di-Pertuan Agong. On the other hand, his paternal grandmother Tengku Badariah was the elder sister of Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, the second Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the eighth Sultan of Selangor.
Educated in the Alice Smith School, Raja Petra went on to pursue his studies at the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar, before completing his education at the Victoria Institution. He would later rise to prominence within local political circles when he became a leading member of Parti Keadilan Nasional (now known as Parti Keadilan Rakyat or PKR).
The political party was first established as a response to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s arrest back in 1998. This would in turn lead to Raja Petra Kamarudin’s own detainment in April 2001 for allegedly attempting to overthrow then-premiere Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s government. He was held in prison under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for 52 days before being eventually released.
Malaysia Today and involvement in Malaysia’s political scene
In September 2004, he founded Malaysia Today, which served as a platform through which Raja Petra would publish much of his thoughts on the country’s political climate. Through a typically humorous inflexion, he often criticised what he observes as deeply embedded money politics in Malaysia’s governance, as well as deep ethnic division within the country’s population.
This would lead to his second arrest through ISA in 2008, with Raja Petra Kamarudin being held for 56 days in the Kamunting Detention Centre without trial. This would lead to widespread criticism of the Malaysian government by legal and social activist groups while shedding light on the controversial upholding of the Colonial legal act that was often misappropriated to silence dissidence.
He was also detained in 2008 for suggesting that then-Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak had been involved in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu. This is in addition to linking Razak’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, to the crime.
Upon his release, Raja Petra lived in exile in the United Kingdom, from which he would continue to operate Malaysia Today up until his passing. He is survived by his widow and five children.
Feature and hero image credits: Raja Petra Kamarudin/Instagram
