"KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 — Haris Ibrahim resigned as president of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) today, accusing Raja Petra Kamarudin of undermining his efforts at ending Barisan Nasional’s (BN) rule."

The self-exiled blogger, who is also MCLM chairman, told the New Straits Times in an interview published yesterday that the civil society movement would not contest the next general election.
Raja Petra was also reported by the Umno-controlled daily as saying “the Egypt-style people’s revolution was not an answer for Malaysia due to the delicate racial balance. (Chinese voters) don’t want Tahrir Square.”
Today, Haris said Raja Petra unilaterally made the decision to stay away from the general election.
“I can confirm now that no such decision has been made after due consultation. In the circumstances, I find it impossible to continue to serve MCLM as its president,” Haris wrote on his blog.
He said Raja Petra’s comments “greatly undermine efforts I am making, albeit through MLCM, in the ‘Anything But Umno (ABU)’ initiative.
“It also saddens me that even as... many others continue daily to undo the ill-effects of Umno/BN’s 40-over years of race-based, divide-and-rule, my friend should continue to see us as Malays, Chinese, Indians,” he said.
The political activist said he informed Raja Petra, better known as RPK, of his resignation via email.
Raja Petra has come under fire from PKR after Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia quoted him yesterday as saying Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was morally unfit to become prime minister as Malaysians could not accept a homosexual leading the country.
The blogger, who fled the country in 2009 after alleging that Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife were responsible for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu, did not explicitly call Anwar a homosexual but said there was no room in Malaysia for someone who is gay and wants to become PM.
He also said he was “90 per cent” sure the man in the Datuk T sex video was Anwar, and that many of the latter’s friends believed in the authenticity of the video.
Raja Petra had first mooted civil society as a third force in Malaysian politics in October 2010 when he told a forum in London that Pakatan Rakyat’s huge gains in 2008 were due to the civil society action such as the Bersih and Hindraf rallies in 2007, which championed free and fair elections and lobbied for Indian rights respectively.
“We have given PR two-and-a-half years but not a single reform has been implemented,” he had said, forcing Anwar to defend his coalition at the same event by laying blame on the federal government.
The Selangor royal family member had launched MCLM’s Barisan Rakyat Independent Candidate Initiative in December 2010 and the movement began deploying its candidates last July.
MCLM also warned Najib that street protests would follow if the prime minister called for a general election without first implementing the electoral reforms demanded by the Bersih 2.0 election watchdog movement.
“I wish to reiterate here that this was no idle threat,” Haris wrote today.
The Malaysia Insider
3-1-12
The country electoral wheels are beginning to gather momentum as more and more issues are beginning to surface via those whose self serving or genuinely concerned for the nation's well being agendas reveals themselves for better or for worse.We the people will have to sieve through all the garbage that will be spilling out, all the skeletons that will be dragged out and make up our own minds as to who or what to believe before we cast our votes.It is our duty to be in the know as the future of our country is at stake which simply means our children and theirs will bear the consequences of our ignorance.

"One reason Pakatan Rakyat refuses to engage MCLM is because of the ‘Independent Candidate Initiative’. Pakatan Rakyat is not prepared to give way to independent candidates. If independent candidates come in then we are going to see three- or even four-corner contests.
I know many of you were foaming at the mouth for exactly this point. You accused MCLM of serving Barisan Nasional’s agenda, of being a Trojan horse, for being guilty of triggering multi-corner contests and hence denying Pakatan Rakyat the possibility of winning the next general election.
Over and over I wrote in Malaysia Today that this is not true. MCLM is committed to a two-party system and in seeing the emergence of a strong opposition and is not attempting to grab votes away from Pakatan Rakyat by fielding a third candidate. But this assurance is not accepted. The only way everyone can be assured would be if MCLM is closed down and the independent candidates abandon their plan of contesting the election.
Well, the independent candidates have now announced they are withdrawing. In fact, they are severing ties with MCLM altogether. Only one still insists on contesting and even then he has said he would like to contest under a Pakatan Rakyat ticket.
Another point would be about the transformation or reformation itself. What the people seek is change. And the route they chose is to change the government. But in the end they did not actually see change. Hence the title of my article today: Change in government, not change of government.
And that is what we should seek. We should learn from more than 200 years of history. And the lesson is: we may see a change of government but that does not mean we are going to see a change in government. This is what I normally call old wine in a new bottle.
Can we be assured that by changing the government we will see change? Can a change of government guarantee us a change in government? Can more than 200 years of history be wrong?

Well, just look at the so-called changes of recent times such as in Iran in 1979. Did the US see change with Obama at the helm? Did Britain see a change when they kicked out Labour last year?
Look at Egypt. The people took to the Tahrir Square to force a change of government. But they did not see a change in government. So now they are taking to the Tahrir Square again and the killings are continuing, barely a few months since the last revolution."
RPK.

RPK is absolutely right in his lambasting PKR and Anwar Ibrahim for their non performance or at leasr performing up to RPK's expectations. However my view of the matter with regard to his interview with the National Medias recently is that he has no right to to start yapping away at anyone or any single party without a disclaimer saying that he does not speak for MCLM of which he is the Chairman. Cant have the cake and eat it too, and looking be you leap is a little too late for RPK as he has already let loose his mouth as he always does for better or for worse.RPK is dictating MCLM's non existent agendas to fit his hidden ones whatever that may be...SAD! This is the making of a a dictator if ever his will is not checked.
RPK is playing the naughty little boy whose royal family background and Mat Salleh parentage is beginning to show its colors like saying "No one can touch me, you guys! I have set the stage and now i will sing and dance accordingly." Too Bad, I hate hero worshiping but i fell for this guy big time!
R.I.P. RPK.
I decided for the first time in my life to join in the fray by becoming a member of MCLM after reading what Haris Ibrahim had to say and learning about the cause set by the Movement. Now i feel like a fool never to trust me inklings.As the saying goes, "When you cannot trust the salt to preserve your food what else can you turn to?"