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rishi · Senior Member Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 620

BAR SHOCKED OVER RAJA PETRA'S PROSECUTION

(The Sun) PETALING JAYA (May 6, 2008): The Bar Council today expressed shocked and disappointment today over the government's decision to charge Malaysia Today webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin with sedition.
Calling the Sedition Act 1948 an "archaic legislation which should be repealed", its president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said the Act was incompatible with Malaysian society.
"The Sedition Act is a draconian, archaic and repressive piece of legislation that has long outlived any perceived utility it may ever have had. It is incompatible with the progressive, open and democratic society that we had believed Malaysia was becoming," she said, adding that the use of such law was disconcerting and lends credence to the view that in fact the democratic space in Malaysia is still severely curtailed.
"The Sedition Act and other authoritarian laws represent a severe encroachment on the fundamental freedoms enshrined in our Constitution. These fundamental civil liberties are indisputable hallmarks of any democracy and must be safeguarded if Malaysia is to lay any claim to being a democratic nation."
She said the use of the Act was incompatible with the Home Ministry's recently-announced intention to loosen the annual licensing requirements for newspapers.
"The Bar Council had hoped that this signalled the first of many reforms that would herald a new era of openness and transparency."
She said the government should repeal the repressive legislation and focus instead on encouraging open discourse on issues of concern.
She said the council asked that the authorities immediately withdraw the charge against Raja Petra.

WIFE: RPK REFUSING TO MEET ANYONE

(Malaysiakini) Malaysia Today webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin - presently in jail for refusing to pay bail - has refused to have any contact with anyone including his own wife, Marina Lee Abdullah.
Marina when contacted this morning said she had gone to the Kuala Lumpur Remand Centre to meet Raja Petra and to ask him if he would want to post bail today.
"The officer at the registration counter (of the remand centre) have informed me that my husband has refused to see anyone including me," she told Malaysiakini.
She then said that she has demanded to see the deputy warden of the remand centre to get further information and is still waiting for the meeting.
Raja Petra was charged yesterday 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 of being 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.

NEWS FROM SG. BULOH : RPK DENIED VISIT RIGHT

updates 1247 : Puan Marina is on her way back to Sg. Buloh Prison (also known as Kuala Lumpur Remand Centre) with a lawyer, Matthaeus Cheng, to meet up with the Warden and get a letter from RPK to prove that he really requested not to be visited by any body at the moment.
This morning RPK's wife, Marina Lee went to the prison but RPK refused to see any body including Marina.

According to the Officer on duty, RPK has requested the prison official not to allow any one to visit him including family members and lawyers. Marina insisted to see him, but the Officer said he has to respect RPK's request.

Marina suspects that RPK is on hunger strike. She left a note and she hopes RPK will read it.

"What makes you think I don't have proof? What makes you think I don't have documents?
"If I do submit the proof behind my writing, they will arrest me under the OSA. You think I'm stupid?" he asked the assembled journalists.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin was a celebrity at the Jalan Duta court complex here yesterday.

The 58-year-old arrived at 9.06am, accompanied by his wife, Marina Lee Abdullah, a battery of lawyers and a throng of supporters.

His well-wishers read like a who's who of Pakatan Rakyat notables, including Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, Teluk Kemang MP Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Abbas, Batu MP Tian Chua, Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong, PAS Youth chief Salahudin Ayub and Pandamaran state assemblyman Ronnie Liu.

Defiant as ever, Raja Petra challenged the government to repeal the Official Secrets Act (OSA) so that he could reveal what he claimed was evidence against his charge of sedition.

"What makes you think I don't have proof? What makes you think I don't have documents?
"If I do submit the proof behind my writing, they will arrest me under the OSA. You think I'm stupid?" he asked the assembled journalists.

Declaring war on the government, Raja Petra said the government should be afraid of bloggers.

Clad in a yellow shirt and blue jeans, the Internet-based political commentator said he was not informed of the charge against him until the last minute.

When it was suggested that it seemed as if he was courting prosecution by his repeated run-ins with the law, he replied that he did not want to be charged but had been expecting it.

He refused to concede that his website's contents were seditious in nature, insisting that it was not wrong to incite the people against a "dishonest government".

Part of Raja Petra's disgruntlement was understandable. He was asked to be at court by 9.30am, but was not attended to until an hour later when he was told to go to the Petaling Jaya court instead.

Lim described the charge as harassment.

"I think this is a disgraceful and atrocious development," the opposition stalwart said.

KES RAJA PETRA MERIAHKAN PARLIMEN HARI INI

(Harakah) KL: Kerajaan kini berada dalam fasa 'empire strikes back' atau politik balas dendam apabila mengambil tindakan menyoal siasat pengendali laman web Malaysia-Today, Raja Petra Kamaruddin atas dakwaan menghasut yang boleh mengancam ketenteraman negara.
Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timur-DAP) dalam sesi perbahasan titah ucapan Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-wathiqu billah al-Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Shah menganggap apa yang sedang berlaku ke atas Raja Petra sekarang ini adalah meriupakan implikasi keputusan pilihan raya umum yang lalu.
"Adakah semua ahli parlimen bersetuju dengan tajuk artikel Raja Petra yang berbunyi,'Let send Altantuya's murderer to hell' ? Saya bertanya sedemikian bukan merujuk kepada sesiapa secara khusus tetapi atas dasar keadilan dan kebenaran, kita sememangnya mahukan pembunuh beliau dihukum," penegasan Lim disambut dengan sokongan seluruh ahli parlimen Pakatan Rakyat.
Selanjutnya, Lim meneruskan hujah sambil mempertikaikan tindakan undang-undang yang sedang diambil oleh pihak kerajaan ke atas Raja Petra dengan mengenakan Akta Hasutan.
Ia disangkal oleh Khairy Jamaludin (Rembau-BN) yang mempertikaikan mengenai persoalan syurga neraka yang tidak sewajarnya dibincangkan memandangkan hal tersebut hanya diketahui Allah sahaja.
Lim membidas kenyataan Khairy dengan menjelaskan bahawa beliau tidak membincangkan mengenai syurga neraka bahkan isu utama adalah mengenai hukuman yang sepatutnya dikenakan ke atas pembunuh kes berprofil tinggi, Altantuya Shariibu.
Pada masa yang sama, Dato' Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak-BN) menyindir ahli-ahli parlimen PAS yang berdiam diri apabila persoalan mengenai syurga neraka itu sedang hangat dibincangkan.
"Kenapa ustaz, ustazah daripada PAS diam? Jawablah mengenai isu ini," sindirnya.
Membidas serangan yang dibuat kedua-dua ahli parlimen BN tersebut, Lim menyatakan bahawa isu utama yang dibincang serta dibangkitkan beliau adalah mengenai pertikaian terhadap tindakan undang-undang yang dikenakan ke atas Raja Petra Kamarudin tanpa memfokuskan kepada persoalan syurga neraka.
"Saya menyebutkan mengenai kewajaran pembunuh Altantuya dihantar ke neraka atas kesalahan yang dilakukan bukannya mengenai menentukan hal syurga dan neraka.
"Kalau ini pun tidak boleh difahami, tidak gunalah graduate daripada Oxford University tetapi masih tidak boleh memahami isi kandungan perbincangan," tegasnya sambil disambut sokongan ahli-ahli parlimen Pakatan rakyat lain.
Pada masa yang sama, Lim turut menyentuh mengenai salah guna kuasa yang dilakukan oleh kerajaan BN seperti Peguam Negara, Polis untuk kepentingan mereka.
"Kita mengutuk dengan sekeras-kerasnya amalan tersebut yang sedikit sebanyak menjejaskan ketelusan dan keadilan kerajaan yang diberikan mandat oleh rakyat untuk membela nasib mereka dengan mengetepikan kepentingan pihak tertentu," tegasnya lagi.
Pada masa yang sama, ucapan beliau dimohon laluan oleh Dato' Bung Moktar Radin (Kinabatangan-BN) tetapi Lim tidak memberikannya.
"Kalau tidak beri laluan, saya keluar dewan sahajalah," ujarnya sambil tersenyum dan berlalu daripada dewan.
Menyambung ucapan perbahasan junjung kasih titah YDPA, Lim menegaskan sama ada kerajaan mahu membuat siasatan terbuka dengan menubuhkan suruhanjaya siasatan awam kes tersebut memandangkan ianya melibatkan Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Dato' Seri Najib Razak.
Sementara itu, Tian Chua (Batu-KeADILan) pula meminta penjelasan mengenai pengaruh artikel yang dihasilkan Raja Petra sehingga ia dikatakan berupaya menghasut orang ramai sekaligus mengancam keselamatan dan ketenteraman negara.
"Bahkan terdapat ramai lagi penulis-penulis blog dan laman web yang membuat kenyataan dan artikel secara terbuka sebelum ini yang meminta supaya pemimpin nombor satu negara iaitu Perdana Menteri, meletakkan jawatan sebagai menyatakan tanggungjawab beliau yang mengakibatkan kekalahan BN pada pilihan raya umum lalu.
"Adakah orang nombor dua (Timbalan Perdana Menteri) lebih penting daripada orang nombor satu?" katanya.
Lim dalam kenyataan maklum balas beliau membangkitkan mengenai tindakan ke atas Raja Petra yang menyiarkan artikel tersebut yang dianggap memsabitkan dirinya sendiri ke dalam penyiasatan kes Altantuya selepas kandungan artikel tersebut yang dianggap mempersoalkan tindakan peguam negara membolehkannya dikenakan dakwaan di bawah Akta hasutan.
"Takkan kita tidak boleh menyiasat TPM sedangkan sesiapa sahaja yang didakwa perlu dibicarakan dan dibuktikan kesalahan mereka oleh mahkamah. Biarkan pihak mahkamah menjalankan tugas mereka," ujarnya lagi.
Manakala Azmin Ali (Gombak-KeADILan) pula menyokong kenyataan Lim sebelum ini yang menyatakan bahwa terdapat penyalahgunaan kuasa dan jentera kerajaan untuk kepentingan pihak tertentu apabila mantan TPM, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim yang masih belum dibuktikan bersalah telah dikasari dan diaibkan oleh pihak polis dengan menggunakan seluruh jentera kerajan.
"walaupun seseorang itu tidak bersalah sehingga dibuktikan bersalah, tetapi hal ini berbeza dalam kes Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim," katanya.

RUCKUS OVER RPK IN PARLIAMENT

(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.

RPK THE MARTYR KEEPS SPOTLIGHT ON ALTANTUYA CASE

LESLIE LAU, THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
MAY 6 � IF Raja Petra Kamaruddin�s aim was to raise the political temperature surrounding the Altantuya murder trial, a case which has fallen off the radar in recent months, he has certainly become a martyr to his cause.
Charged with sedition for an allegedly inflammatory article he wrote on his popular website Malaysia Today about the trial, he refused to post bail.
While the police and the Attorney-General�s Chambers are well within their powers in charging Raja Petra, he has now turned his case into a cause c�l�bre, taking advantage of the kind positive notoriety which will certainly draw more attention to his already wildly popular and influential website.
Malaysia Today is to Malaysia what the Drudge Report is to the United States.
Like the Drudge Report, Malaysia Today is basically a news aggregation site, in which the owner sometimes writes articles as well to break certain sensational stories before the mainstream press does so.
Raja Petra or RPK, if anything, has been entertaining his readers with tales of political intrigue at the highest levels.
It was on his website that he started publishing the Khairy Chronicles, a series of mostly unsubstantiated articles which accused Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of the prime minister, of naked ambition in wanting to eventually become PM.
Last week, it appeared Raja Petra had turned his attention on to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife.
There were few people or public institutions which escaped Raja Petra�s scathing attention in his critique of how the authorities had and are handling the ongoing Altantuya murder trial.
Both Najib and his wife were implicated by Raja Petra.
This was classic baiting by Raja Petra. Najib, through his press secretary, responded with a letter to complain about the treatment.
Raja Petra published the letter, and also argued his own points in defending his right to publish the original article.
But in engaging Raja Petra instead of ignoring the allegations, Najib appeared to have silenced, or at least prevented the story from going out of control.
However, by refusing to even post bail, Raja Petra has again brought attention on to the case, and pressure on Najib.
While it was Raja Petra who was handcuffed by police and marched off to the lock-up, it was Najib who had to face growing pressure in Parliament.
He was forced to answer allegations made by Leader of the Opposition Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail that a company controlled by Abdul Razak Baginda, the deputy prime minister's former close aide who has been charged in the Altantuya murder case, had been paid an exorbitant commission in the deal to acquire Sukhoi fighter jets and Scorpene submarines.
Najib expectedly denied any improprieties. But the heat is most certainly still on.

A LEGEND IN THE MAKING

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.