Blogger detained: Some questions …
Sunday, July 15th, 2007 | 2:10 am @ SK
2 days after Deputy Internal Security Minister Mohd Johari Baharum said he is thankful to God that truth is on his side, he starts the detention spree.
Johari [...] wants the Police to initiate investigations to trace writers spreading lies through websites.He said that he had instructed the Police’s Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) to undertake the investigations and bring the culprits to book. [...]
"Now all kinds of slander about the nation’s leaders are being spread through the Internet. The Police must act to prevent them from tarnishing the image of the country."
The first victim is blogger Nathaniel Tan, who is to be remanded for 4 days under Section 8 of the Official Secret Act (OSA) over allegations of possession of documents pertaining to Johari’s alleged involvement in corruption.
Meanwhile, Tan’s lawyer Latheefa Koya told Malaysiakini that the police were investigating a comment posted by an individual on Nat’s blog.
The individual who posted the comment, re-published three paragraphs found in the anonymous website which implicated Johari and was the subject of the ACA investigation against him.
That lead to a few questions:
1) Who instructed the detention? The police or Johari?
2) Why charged Nat under OSA? Does that mean the allegation posted as a comment on his blog holds water?
Meanwhile, it’s also interesting to note that Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is now on a hot radar, with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said PKR is facing a crisis of confidence in its leadership with the jobless SIL Khairy Jamaluddin said it’s time to crush PKR.
Oh, the game has just started?
January 1st, 1970 at 7:30 am
January 1st, 1970 at 7:30 am
July 15th, 2007 at 2:22 am
July 15th, 2007 at 3:20 am
Never mind that a blogger gets detained under OSA for something somebody else wrote.
If indeed the police were acting on Johari’s instructions, so much for the police being a force independent of the executive.
So, how do arrests/prosecutions of executive members work again?
July 15th, 2007 at 4:15 am
July 15th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Interesting observation, isn’t it?
Are these co-incidences? Or do they beg more questions?
One thing is sure. They are definite signs that the elections are near.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:05 am
[...] a Harvard University alumnus and an aide to PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested under the Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari [...]