Raja Petra Kamaruddin: Update

Police call in Raja Petra for questioning

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz May 2, 2008

source: www.malaysiakini.com Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin was called in by the police to have his statement recorded over a recent internet posting pertaining to the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case. His wife Marina Lee Abdullah told Malaysiakini that Raja Petra had gone to the federal police’s cybercrimes division at 4pm. After more than two hours, the blogger emerged at about 6.30pm and was greeted by Marina, reporters, fellow bloggers and supporters. On April 25, Raja Petra posted an article titled ‘Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell’ on his blog, Malaysia Today. The posting implicated Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor in the high-profile case. Najib subsequently issued a denial through his press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad. Whereas, Rosmah has also denied the allegations against her. “They were going to take my statement under Section 112 (of the Criminal Procedure Code), under which if you refuse to answer you will be arrested,” said Raja Petra. “I said, ‘Arrest me now, or else let me walk out of here. If I walk out of here, I do not want to see your faces any more. Do not disturb me any more’.” Asked why he refused to give his statement, Raja Petra replied: “I refused to play their political game. “My article is political. My blog is political. Najib is political. Altantuya is a political issue,” he said in response to another question. Earlier, the police said the blogger’s statement would be recorded tomorrow morning. Laptop confiscated This morning, seven police officers from the division – led by DSP Victor Sanjos – were at Raja Petra’s house in Sungai Buloh from 9am to 11am. They confiscated the blogger’s laptop and CPU. When contacted, Sanjos said the police are investigating the blogger under the Sedition Act 1948 for incitement and also because he “commented on a case before the court made its decision.” Sanjos also said Superintendent Gan Tack Guan – the investigating officer of the Altantuya murder case – had lodged a police report against Raja Petra. “We asked Raja Petra whether he was the one who wrote the blog posting, whether he posted the blog and whether he owned Malaysia Today on which the comments were posted. “He answered ‘yes’ to all three questions,” said Sanjos. The Altantunya murder trial is currently ongoing at the Shah Alam High Court. A close aide to Najib, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and two police special operations force personnel have been charged with the murder of the Mongolian national. ‘A form of harassment’ Meanwhile, Raja Petra, when asked if his posting contained seditious elements, replied: “The whole website (is seditious). The whole Malaysia Today (is seditious)”. His lawyer, PKR treasurer and Selayang MP William Leong, said among the grounds for Raja Petra’s refusal to answer any questions was the police’s failure to show the police report which was said to have served the basis for the questioning. “Our position is that if he was not even provided with the police report, how is he to answer? He cannot answer. How can you give a statement to a police report when you don’t know what the police report is all about? “Raja Petra cannot be asked to answer questions when he has not been given a chance to see the police report against him. (They’ve said nothing) except to say they are investigating him under the Sedition Act. Exactly what is that? We looked at it and we said this is not proper. This is not correct,” he said. Asked why Raja Petra was put through the ordeal, Leong said: “This is a form or harassment against bloggers.” He also refused to reveal what were the questions posed by the police to the blogger. The 58-year-old blogger is no stranger to controversy. Last November, he was grilled by the police for eight hours after former Selangor menteri besar Muhammad Muhd Taib (Muhammad son of Muhammad) filed a police report against him. Taib, who is now regional and rural development minister, had claimed that Raja Petra published postings and articles that were disrespectful to the King and Islam. Watch the 4-minute video in Malaysiakini.tv.