Thursday, May 8, 2008

Umno buat laporan polis terhadap Karpal

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/82554

Umno buat laporan polis terhadap Karpal

Muda Mohd Noor & Siti Nurul Zahra Hamdan May 8, 08 7:08pm

Presiden Umno, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi telah mengarahkan setiausaha agung Umno, Datuk Tengku Adnan Mansor supaya membuat aduan polis terhadap pengerusi DAP, Karpal Singh yang mempersoalkan kuasa Sultan Perak dalam pentadbiran negeri tersebut.

Ahli Parlimen Bukit Gelugor itu sebelum ini mempersoalkan kuasa Sultan Perak khususnya dalam kes pertukaran Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam Perak (JAIP) Datuk Jamry Sury.

Bercakap kepada pemberita di ibunegara petang ini, Abdullah berkata, kenyataan Karpal itu mempunyai unsur-unsur hasutan"

Saya telah memberitahu Tengku Adnan supaya membuat aduan di balai polis supaya dibawa kepada Peguam Negara dan mahkamah mengenai Karpal Singh," katanya kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan "Mihas Showcase 2008" di Tapak A, Pameran Mihas, Matrade di ibunegara hari ini.

Abdullah berkata, beliau juga diberitahu bahawa yang lain lagi - bukan sahaja orang Melayu, tetapi juga bukan Melayu - membuat laporan polis yang sama.

Katanya, mereka membuat laporan tersebut kerana merasa tersinggung dan marah terhadap kenyataan Karpal Singh yang telah menimbulkan kemarahan ramai orang.

Menurut laporan, Karpal mendakwa arahan Sultan Perak supaya Jamry dilantik semula adalah tidak sah mengikut undang-undang dan sepatutnya keputusan terdahulu kerajaan negeri mengarahkan pertukaran Jamry dikekalkan."

(Kenyataan) Karpal itu dilihat oleh rakyat sebagai menghina Sultan, seolah-olah Sultan tidak tahu tugasnya. Ramai rakyat, termasuk Umno marah dengan tindakan tersebut," kata Abdullah.

'Tak halang Najib'

Abdullah juga menafikan kenyataan mantan perdana menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yang beliau telah menghalang perjumpaannya dengan timbalan perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak."

Tak ada halang, tak ada...," kata perdana menteri bila ditanya mengenai kenyataan Dr Mahathir itu.Semalam, Dr Mahathir berkata, beliau telah cuba untuk mengadakan perjumpaan dengan Najib "sejurus selepas pilihanraya umum" untuk membincangkan perkara-perkara berkaitan hal ehwal semasa kerana beliau memandang berat terhadap apa yang berlaku dalam Umno.

"Beliau (Najib) kata beliau perlu mendapatkan kebenaran perdana menteri terlebih dahulu.

Nampaknya beliau tidak mendapat kebenaran tersebut. Jadi, hingga sekarang, beliau tidak bertemu dengan saya," demikian Dr Mahathir dilaporkan berkata.

Mengenai isu Raja Petra pula, Abdullah berkata: "Kalau dah langgar undang-undang tentu ada tindakan terhadap Raja Petra.

Setelah ada aduan, tentulah tindakan diambil."Kita ada undang-undang dan mesti menghormati undang-undang.

(Bila) melanggar undang-undang, tentu tindakan diambil terhadap orang itu," tambahnya.Mengenai kebocoran di parlimen semalam, Abdullah berkata: "Kalau bocor baiki cepat."

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Web censorship fears as online journalist faces sedition charge

(Nieuwsbank) Reporters Without Borders today condemned the jailing of Raja Petra Kamarudin, editor of online publication Malaysia Today (www.malaysia-today.net/2008/) on a charge of sedition over an article on the murder of model, Altantuya Shaariibuu, implicating the deputy prime minister.

Kamarudin refused to pay a fine of 5,000 ringgit (just over 1,000 euros) and is currently being held in Sungai Buloh prison, 25 kilometres from the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Raja Petra Kamarudin, 58, nicknamed RPK, was arrested under the 1948 Sedition Act that punishes "any incitement to hatred, suspicion or contempt of any leader or government member".

He faces up to three years in prison.

In his 25 April 2008 article headlined "Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell", Kamarudin said he suspected deputy prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak, and his wife of being linked to the murder of the 28-year-old model, killed by two bullets to the head and found near Kuala Lumpur in October 2006.

Najib Abdul Razak has denied Kamarudin's allegations, calling them "groundless".

"This is the first time that a blogger has been officially accused of sedition in Malaysia," the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

"The authorities are using Raja Petra Kamarudin as a scapegoat.

The government wants to silence online criticism.

Given the state of the press, the Internet is the main space where citizens can express themselves freely. We urge the authorities to free Raja Petra Kamarudin while awaiting trial".

(JPEG) The authorities questioned Kamarudin about the article on 2 May, under Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act, which provides for up to one year in prison and harsh fines for online publication of false or defamatory articles.

Police have seized his computer.

Reporters Without Borders managed to speak to the online editor on 3 May, when he expressed his "anxiety" that he could go to prison for refusing to speak.

"My article is political, my blog is political, Najib Razak is a politician and this murder is political", he told independent news website Malaysiakini.com.

The ministry of internal security has been using the fight against incitement to racial hatred or insulting the King, to silence dissident voices, particularly bloggers.

In July 2007, Justice Minister, Nazri Abdul Aziz, said the government would not hesitate to use the Internal Security Act (ISA) to punish them.

The ISA provides for two years in prison without trial for offences such as "breaching state security".

Kamarudin has come in for previous harassment from the authorities.

He was arrested in 2001 while running the website Free Anwar Campaign (www.freeanwar.net), campaigning on behalf of deputy

Anwar Ibrahim, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for organising a demonstration against corruption in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

The Malaysian blogosphere is extremely vigorous and chiefly backs the opposition.

Malaysia Today's site has received the equivalent of nearly 8,000 euros in donations in the past 24 hours following an appeal launched yesterday by his associates at the start of legal proceedings against Kamarudin.

His wife, Marina Lee, tried to visit Kamarudin today, but was not able to see him because RPK' had apparently waived his right to visits.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

A legend in the making


A legend in the making

Wednesday, 07 May 2008
CHAN KOK LEONG, MALAYSIAKINI

Highly controversial and largely influential blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin wrote himself into the annals of Malaysian history today when he became the first blogger to be charged under the Sedition Act 1948.

After a three-hour delay and a switch of courts, Raja Petra finally heard for the first time what he was being accused of.

Clad in a light yellow shirt and blue jeans, the 58-year-old bald-headed writer was charged under Section 4 (1) (c) for nine paragraphs of a story which appeared in Malaysia Today on April 25.

The article allegedly implied that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife were involved in the killing of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Whether it was confusion or mere inefficiency, what took a just 30 minutes in court, after factoring in a 10-minute recess called by justice Nurmala Salim, the entire matter consumed more than three hours.

During the morning session at Jalan Duta, some 100 bloggers, well-wishers and press hounds were treated to hourly briefings of how he has been victimised by the government.

The flow of listeners were constant and instead of a day of sombre which is normally associated when friends or family have clashes with the law, the gathering in the morning carried an air of festivity.

Journalists had a field day collecting quotes and photographs of the notable people who had turned up to see him charged.

Among the wakil rakyat who turned up to see him were Nurul Izzah Anwar, Tian Chua, Lim Kit Siang, Sallahuddin Ayub, Liew Chin Tong and Wan Azizah Ismail, who showed up at Petaling Jaya later.

Other notables include human rights lawyers Haris Ibrahim, Malik Imtiaz, bloggers Bernard Khoo, YL Chong, Yassim Salleh, Ahiruddin Attan and Nuraina Samad.

Four other MPs - Karpal Singh, Gobind Singh, Lim Lip Eng and William Leong - made up his defence team alongside Jasvinderjit Singh, J Chandra and K Balaguru.

The prosecution team only had Nordin Hassan.'

He believes in his innocence'

After more than one-and-a-half hours of waiting, as the case was neither registered there nor were there any charge sheets available yet, the crowd continued their session at the cafeteria.

At about 10.20am, one of Raja Petra's lawyers, Leong, informed everyone that the case had been moved to Petaling Jaya Sessions Court.

What ensued was a convoy of cars, like those you see on the highway on their way to kenduris, headed towards the modest court in PJ State.

And if the authorities thought it would be over quickly, they must have been greatly disappointed.

For the royal son of Selangor did not capitulate meekly.

Instead of paying bail and keeping quiet until his trial date in October, Raja Petra chose the reverse.

In the courtroom, one of his lawyers had already told several reporters that his client would not pay bail because he believes in his innocence.

And as the news filtered out of the small Sessions Court in Petaling Jaya of his reluctance or inability to post bail, the crowd of well-wishers, bloggers and well-wishers gasped in astonishment at the thought that Raja Petra would be jailed until October.

If the authorities had expected to see him vilified and subdued, they were sorely mistaken. For instead of seeing him subjugated, the former businessman and ex-journalist is now a legend.

Clasped in handcuffs like a common criminal, photographers followed his every step as he was led in and out of the court after he did not post bail.

Well-wishers shocked

Meanwhile, outside the court room, Raja Petra's wife Marina Lee Abdullah said: "This is a statement he wants to make.

He feels that he has done nothing wrong and we don't have the funds.

"If we do a campaign of RM1 a person and when we raise sufficient funds, we'll take him out as soon as possible."

During a quick lunch at a fast-food restaurant opposite the court, I watched and eavesdrop on several conversations around me.

The well-wishers who were at the court moments earlier had converged here for the same reasons as I.

But more importantly was their conversations.

As instead of focusing on the charge or the alleged sedition Raja Petra is accused of, their conversations understandably revolved around the injustice he has been meted out with.

Needless to say, more was made of the fact that he will now have to linger in jail for causing Barisan Nasional's defeat in Selangor and four states.

And more will be said about how he was targetted after an Umno Youth vice leader in Petaling Jaya Utara was said to have told a meeting that "we have to arrest Raja Petra".

And this is how legends are made.

Ruckus over RPK in Parliament

Ruckus over RPK in Parliament

Wednesday, 07 May 2008

(Malaysiakini) Malaysia Today's webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin, charged with sedition and remanded in Sungai Buloh prison for refusing to post bail, was a central figure in a spate of debate in the Parliament today.

On one side was Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who, in his speech debating on the royal address, criticised Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor for "abusing the laws" in allegedly getting Raja Petra to be charged for sedition.

Raja Petra, in his Internet posting entitled 'Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell', had implicated Najib and Rosmah in the high-profile murder case of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national.

Lim said the quick police action and subsequent prosecution smacked of an "orchestrated" effort and abuse of the laws and government machinery to punish Raja Petra.

"They (Najib and Rosmah) reserve the right to clear their names through the laws.

So why have they used the government facilities to take action against Raja Petra Kamaruddin?

This is the abuse of powers," he said in his speech."

There are other channels for the deputy prime minister and his family to take action against Raja Petra - to use civil action and litigation.

Why choose sedition prosecution?" he asked."

Why has the government machinery (in the form of the office of the) Attorney-General's Chambers been used for this purpose?

This is abuse of power! That is why we have to criticise this action against Raja Petra Kamaruddin in the harshest terms," he added.

Barisan Nasional backbenchers, however, raised a ruckus and criticised the DAP veteran leader for making assumptions that Najib and Rosmah were behind the police action against Raja Petra."

How sure are you that there was an abuse of power in the use of the Sedition Act against Raja Petra Kamaruddin?

Do you have proof that the deputy prime minister had gotten the police take the action (against Raja Petra)?" asked Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak)."

Or perhaps this has nothing to do with what the deputy prime minister has done but is just an act by the authorities against someone who has done something in relation to the Sedition Act?" he added.

Lim rebutted by saying: "Perhaps the honourable member from Pasir Salak deems this is as a coincidence, but there are a lot of coincidences in Barisan Nasional."

Oxford graduate under fire

Dr Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat), meanwhile, called for Lim to be more "responsible" and refrain from speaking on a matter that was already in the purview of the court.

Puad also said it was right for action to be taken against Raja Petra as he had "incited" people against a senior government leader. "

Do you believe in what was written by Raja Petra Kamaruddin?" he asked.

Lim, however, said he did not want to be drawn into the debate on the merits, or otherwise, of the contents of Raja Petra's article.

Other than urging Najib to initiate a civil suit to clear his name and that of his wife, Lim also called for a royal commission of inquiry to determine whether, and to what extent, government figures were involved in the said killing of Altantuya.

Citing Raja Petra's article, Lim said among the many questions to be answered was whether attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail overstepped his boundaries as an officer of the court."

(The government) should set up a royal commission of inquiry to investigate this so-called high-profile murder to clear the good name of this nation," he said.Lim earlier chastised Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) who questioned him on the repetition of Raja Petra's use of the word "hell"."

Do you not agree that the only one to determine whether a person will go to heaven or hell is God and not for us to determine," asked Khairy.

Lim, however, thundered back: "We are not talking of religion!

This is an expression that those who murdered Altantuya should be punished to the full extent of the law! It's not about going to heaven or hell."

If even this one cannot understand, what is the point of graduating from Oxford?

This is a disgrace to the university," he said, upon which the whole house again descended into chaos as both sides went back to shouting at each other.

Journalists under probe

On a related issue, Lim questioned the police's summoning of TheSun's editors Terence Fernandez and R Nadeswaran to assist investigations into their reports on the Association of Wives of Assemblymen and Members of Parliament in Selangor (Balqis) controversy.

Fernandez and Nadeswaran had written a series of reports on the dissolution of Balqis - soon after the Pakatan Rakyat coalition won Selangor in the March 8 general election - and questions pertaining to the transfer of RM9.9 million of donations out of the association.

"Are they being investigated by the police? Is it because of their investigative journalism? We should be encouraging investigative journalism, not journalism that merely flatters," said Lim."

The ones who should be investigated is former (Selangor) Menteri Besar Mohd Khir Toyo and his wife... not Nadeswaran and Terence," he added.

SEDITION ACT - UMNO'S TOOL TO SILENCE WHISTLEBLOWERS & SAVE CRIMINALS

Sedition Act