by Dr. Azly Rahman

“Is this a real life.. is this just fantasy
Caught in a landslide…. no escape from reality
Open your eyes… look up to the skies and see…I’m just a poor boy.. I need no sympathy.. because I’m easy come.. easy go…
“
— Freddy Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody

There is so much sadness in our nation as we bemoan the imprisonment of a voice of conscience manifested in this individual called Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

There is so much anger in our consciousness as we wonder what justice denied can do to us as we see the rot in our cultural values and political lives — right in front of our eyes, feasted through the media.

Raja Petra is seeking deep in his inner self and journeying deep into the archeology of his consciousness and into the history of his self and his ancestors, seeking solace and guidance in what next to be done in this world in which the self argues and revolts against systems of oppression. His psyche and the journey of his soul perhaps bring him to a hill in Melaka some several centuries ago — a place where the legendary philosopher-king and the Bugis warrior stood on a hill riddled with bullets from the advancing Dutch colonials. Raja Haji died standing. Read the rest of this entry »