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Chan Kok Leong | May 6, 08 10:40am
Malaysia Today news portal webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin was today charged with sedition at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court over an article which he wrote in his website.
The article allegedly implied that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife were involved in the killing of a young Mongolian woman.
Raja Petra claimed trial to the charge. He was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for publishing seditious article on April 25 on Malaysia Today.
Hearing has been fixed from Oct 6 to 10 and Raja Petra was granted a bail of RM5,000, which he refused to post, deciding instead to remain in custody until the hearing date five months from today.
He has been taken to the Sungai Buloh prison to be remanded.
If found guilty, Raja Petra could be jailed for a maximum of three years and/or face a fine of up to RM5,000.
The charge sheet also highlighted nine paragraphs of the article which was titled ‘Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell‘ as seditious [See chart below].
Deputy public prosecutor Nordin Hassan is prosecuting while Raja Petra was represented by a team of six lawyers led by Karpal Singh.
Earlier this morning Raja Petra was asked to present himself at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court to face the sedition charge.
He had been waiting to be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court when he received a telephone call from the police at about 10.20am asking him to go to the PJ court instead.
Deputy public prosecutor Nordin Hassan is prosecuting while Raja Petra was represented by a team of six lawyers led by Karpal Singh.
Earlier this morning Raja Petra was asked to present himself at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court to face the sedition charge.
He had been waiting to be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court when he received a telephone call from the police at about 10.20am asking him to go to the PJ court instead.
Wife stunned
Raja Petra’s wife Marina Lee Abdullah was also present in the court today and expressed her shock over her husband’s decision not to post bail.
“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,” she said, referring to a fund-raising campaign initiated in Malaysia Today to raise enough money to post bail for Raja Petra.
“At the moment, I’m quite stunned by what he has done (not wanting to be bailed), so let me see him tomorrow. And we will take it from there.”
When asked if their family was prepared for the charge preferred against Raja Petra, Marina said that she would be discussing the matter with her children later today.
“I don’t think that anyone is prepared for this. I just called my kids to tell them about this. We’ll go back and have a family gathering to discuss this.”
She also said that she was disappointed with the manner Raja Petra was treated by the police in the run-up to being charged today.
“I’m not angry but I’m very disappointed with the way things are done in a hurry. They send us to this court (Jalan Duta) and then push us to the other court (Petaling Jaya).
“They send us to this police station and say come tomorrow and then they come to the house to take the computer. And this has happened even today when they want to charge him.
“We went there at 8.30am and waited till 11am and they say it’s not there and tell us to come to PJ Sessions (Court). It’s a circus. It doesn’t look as though they are serious. It’s trumped up charges. As though as everything is done in a hurry,” she said.
Meanwhile another person was also charged for sedition at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.
Syed Akbar Ali, a businessman, was charged for posting a comment in Raja Petra’s Malaysia Today.
Summoned yesterday
Late yesterday, Raja Petra was ordered to surrender at the Jalan Duta court complex at 9.30am to face a sedition charge.
Talking to reporters at the Jalan Duta court complex this morning, Raja Petra said that he was a victim of political persecution.
“I knew this was coming,” he said.
“This is merely an excuse to arrest me, detain me or charge me. But this excuse is a stupid excuse.
“Once they charge me and the trial has been set, we shall point out not only do they have no case but it is absolutely political persecution,” he added.
He said that he was aware of a call made by an Umno leader from Petaling Jaya (Utara) about three weeks ago that “they should find ways to arrest me”.
News about Raja Petra’s case spread like a wild fire last night and this morning a large crowd of about 100 people had gathered at the court complex to show support for him.
Also present were DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang and Ronnie Liu as well as Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Nurul Izzah said that it was a duty of everyone to come and show their support to Raja Petra.
“Especially since Malaysia Today was the primary source of a lot of unearthing of scandals especially corrupt practices of the leadership and the government.
“And it (Malaysia Today) has helped opened the eyes of the nation to what is going on and what is wrong with the country. It played a huge role in the last elections.”
Najib’s statement
Last Friday, Raja Petra was called in by the police to have his statement recorded over an Internet posting two weeks ago pertaining to the murder case of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national.
Najib subsequently issued a denial through his press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, whereas Rosmah has also denied the allegations against her.
The Altantunya murder trial is currently on-going at the Shah Alam.
Source: Malaysiakini
Suddenly, so many politicians have got themselves a blog. Mahathir Mohamad launched his own blog chedet.com today, becoming the latest freshman in blogosphere among many politicians who are crowding cyberspace to air their views.
In an apparent reference to Umno, MCA has called on other Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties to accord it due respect in the aftermath of the ruling coalition’s disastrous performance in the March 8 polls.
“The BN cooperation must be there and it must have enough mutual respect,” MCA president Ong Ka Ting told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.
As the second largest Chinese-based BN component party leader, Ong said the ruling coalition must be sensitive and respectful to the need of all races following the strong message sent by voters.
By now, he said Umno leaders must be aware of what went wrong in the past which contributed to the poor showing. He also hinted for the government to accord a more equal status to the non-Malays.
“We expect the Umno leaders when they talk about something for the Malays, they must also think about the lower income group of Chinese and Indians, what plans have you got for them?”
“When you implement policies to help the Malay community, what about the non-Malay community? They also have their problems,” he said.
Bound by code of conduct
In the March 8 polls, BN was dealt a huge blow when it was denied its long-held two-third majority in Parliament and lost four states to Pakatan Rakyat apart from failing to wrest Kelantan away from PAS.
A major reason for this was Chinese and Indian voters turning their backs on MCA and MIC due to resentment over numerous issues.
The discontent has been consistent within the Chinese community since last year. As revealed in a recent poll, the grievances were, among others, over the keris-raising incident in Umno Youth, religious controversies and economic issues.
The Chinese community showed their unhappiness with MCA – which has not been seen as vocal enough to protect the community’s interest – through the poll.
The elections saw a significant reduction in the party’s representation. In Parliament, from 31, the party now only has 15 representatives. At the state level, the number dwindled from 76 to 31.
Responding to this, Ong said it was merely a perception that the party – with four ministers sitting in the cabinet – has not done enough for the community.
“The problem is once you are sworn in as a minister, you cannot disclose anything to anybody and must stick to the code of conduct as a minister,” he said.
‘I don ‘t want to praise myself’
The 51-year-old president, who took over as party chief in 2003, also rejected the argument that he is ‘weak’ in dealing with these contentious issues.
“I don’t want to angkat bakul (praise myself) to say I am good but certainly, I have certain qualities in me and it is not as what some people perceive,” he said.
However, Ong conceded that it could have been a mistake to overlook the image building part and attributed his low-profile personality to his belief in Confucianism.
“I subscribe to the Confucius philosophy and Confucianism ask us to be humble – that you can be strong but you don’t need to say you are that strong,” explained the Chinese-educated Ong who was a school teacher before entering politics.
Source: Malaysiakini
Ong Ka Ting, you are weak. Don’t you think it’s a bit too late to come up with all these saying now? You could have done more for the people!
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