The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must respect human rights and end police abuses of power of “arrest then investigate” and insist that police adhere strictly to “investigate then arrest” procedures.
Abdullah should order the immediate release of blogger, PKR webmaster and aide to Anwar Ibrahim, Nathaniel Tan to send a clear message that his administration and the police under his watch respect human rights, one of the three core functions delineated by the Royal Police Commission in its Report and 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.
Police abuses of power were manifest when they first let it be known that Tan was arrested in connection with the doctored photograph purportedly showing Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak with his confidante Razak Baginda and the murdered Mongolian woman Altantunya Shaariibuu.
Then there was talk about action against Tan under the Penal Code before the Official Secrets Act (OSA) was trotted out as the reason for Tan’s continued remand.
And most incredible of all, the subject of the OSA action was the anonymous website on the RM5.5 million corruption allegations against Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Johari Baharum.
It is not only Johari who would want to know the identity of the person or persons responsible for the anonymous website which posted the corruption allegations against Johari — and there are allegations that the anonymous website could originate from within the police itself.
Let there be a full and thorough investigation to find out who is responsible for the anonymous website making the RM5.5 million corruption allegations against Johari, but leave Tan alone, as nobody seriously suggest that Tan is responsible for the anonymous website.
In the circumstances, the arrest of Tan is not to find out who are the person or persons behind the anonymous website against Johari, but has an ulterior motive — and must be regarded as highly intimidatory of dissent and a threat to all bloggers in the Malaysian blogosphere.
It is most ridiculous and outrageous that the anonymous website on the corruption allegations against Johari could be the basis for police arrest of Tan under the Official Secrets Act when there can be no reason to suspect that Tan was responsible for the website.
Not only the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail should act to stop further abuse of such police powers, the Cabinet must discuss the issue on Wednesday and send out a clear directive to the police that it must respect human rights and stop “arrest then investigate” but must stick strictly to “investigate then arrest” procedures.
#1 by kucing on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 4:31 pm
Uncle Kit, You must be joking asking ABB to respect human right? He doesn’t even know how to think for himself
#2 by Fort on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 4:53 pm
Is this a police state?
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely!
#3 by Utopia on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 5:13 pm
ISA – Can be jailed 2 years without trial/charge
UK new counter-terrorist measures – 28 days without trial/charge = OBJECTION from the public and human rights group!
That says everything! Everything Malaysia has been moving backwards ever since independence besides corruption and abuse of power.
#4 by democratic junkie on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 6:01 pm
If a reporter where to ask PM Abdullah about Nat’s arrest, his reply would possibly be….
I DONT KNOW! let God decide…..
#5 by izrafeil on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 6:04 pm
Uncle Kit,
We badly need WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT, pls bentangkan this bill ASAP, otherwise our country can no more be salvaged! I know, you know, everybody knows that corruption can be curbed this way and we can send those unscrupulous elements may they be govt servants, elected reps, or comoner to JAIL with the co-operation of caring Whistleblowers.
#6 by cklife on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 6:29 pm
Izrafeil,
Did I hear you right? Whistleblower Protection Act????
The country will be chaotic is such act exist.
You can’t take power and misuse of power away from people with power. You can only penalize them when you have the evidence to do so. If you allow their seconder to whistleblow (whether true or not ture), this country will be crazy.
I think we need Internet Freedom Act which allow limitless informations to travel and up to people to believe what is right and what is wrong.
Anyway, I hate irrational person, such as Johari himself. If I’m a PM, i’ll certainly remove him from the cabinet.
Why do we need people like him anyway?
Oh by the way, I still think Tun Mahathir did a great job as a PM.
The country has developed, there were controls and people weren’t hating each other as much as today.
Badawi….hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
#7 by devilmaster on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 9:59 pm
http://www.petitiononline.com/nat2007/petition.html
#8 by undergrad2 on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 11:48 pm
Hello!! Calling for Jeffrey QC. We need your help.
Please cut and paste the relevant section of our CPC so that we could debate on whether the police has complied with the law in remanding Nathaniel Tan.
#9 by undergrad2 on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 11:52 pm
“In the circumstances, the arrest of Tan is not to find out who are the person or persons behind the anonymous website against Johari, but has an ulterior motive – and must be regarded as highly intimidatory of dissent and a threat to all bloggers in the Malaysian blogosphere.” KIT
Kudos to you Kit as Leader of the Opposition for seeing through the smokescreen and in being able to see the wood from the trees!
The crime is in the detention.
#10 by Utopia on Monday, 16 July 2007 - 11:58 pm
Qoute: “Oh by the way, I still think Tun Mahathir did a great job as a PM.”
I won’t say he did a great job, but he definitely did better than Badawi. Prime Minister? More like PUPPET MINISTER! A puppet which has all strings tied to each an every UMNO members.
UMNO will say Badawi is better than Dr. M cause UMNO members can do what they want under Badawi.
Don’t get me wrong, Badawi perhaps is a kinder person compared to Mahathir. But it doesn’t matter how kind you are, as a leader without power, you are a useless leader.
#11 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 12:00 am
This appears in an annual report issued annually by the U.S. Department:
” Police may request a magistrate to extend the period of remand without charge for up to 2 weeks. After this extension, the police, if they wish to hold the suspect, must charge him and seek an order of detention from a magistrate. In some cases, police have released suspects under remand and quickly rearrested them on new but similar charges. However, in general police practice is in accord with legal provisions concerning detention.
Police may deny prisoners under remand access to legal counsel and routinely they do so. During this period of remand, police also may question suspects without giving them access to counsel. Police justify this practice as necessary to prevent interference in ongoing investigations. Judicial decisions have upheld this practice. Defendants’ advocates claimed that the lack of access to counsel seriously weakened defendants’ legal rights.”
Your thoughts??
#12 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 12:00 am
U.S. Department of State – sorry.
#13 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 12:42 am
This is nothing but a show by UMNO to tell you what they will and can do to silent their critics. This is not about rights, it is about power and this power is evil because it is UMNO. So those who can’t keep their mouth shut better be careful. The showdown has yet to begin but it’ll come. It is just a matter of time.
#14 by cklife on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 1:53 am
[deleted]
#15 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 5:00 am
U.S. Department of State:
“…in general police practice is in accord with legal provisions concerning detention.”
How do you view Nathaneil’s detention? How could his arrest and detention be seen as arbitrary when they acted within the Criminal Procedure Code?
#16 by Jeffrey on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 6:55 am
Police exercise of investigative powers anywhere is never only strictly “investigate then arrest†but always a part of that in combination with “arrest then investigateâ€Â….
Neither do I think that the ulterior motive is primarily to intimidate dissent and a threat to all bloggers in the Malaysian blogosphere because if that were so, RPK and Malaysia Today would be a better candidate than Nathaniel Tan!
It is more likely the arrest of Tan is substantially to find out only who are the person or persons behind the anonymous website against Johari which explains why RPK is spared – because his postings are exculpatory in this respect notwithstanding they may be incriminatory in other respects to all other powerful politicians……..
If allegations that the anonymous website posting the corruption allegations against Johari could originate from within the police itself (or rather certain sections within) were true, why would one section of the police investigate themselves in another section?
Which of course leads us to the next question – if certain sections within police are not prepared to investigate other sections in relation to who was responsible behind the anonymous website, why the fishing expedition and crackdown on PKR and Nathaniel Tan?
It cannot be due to the superimposed photograph of “a romantic evening that the deputy premier would prefer to forget” that Tian Chua, PKR’s head of publicity ill advisedly posted – because the only serves to remind the public that there are many ill wishers out there that desire to malign Najib without cause.
Maybe because they (PKR) have their sources within the power structure: you would remember they could get their hands on the Litrak Concessionaire Agreement and publish it notwithstanding the OSA.
Besides PKR, unlike RPK, has a political agenda and being Malay majority based with a supposedly multiracial platform is a political rival and threat to the ruling party and its defacto leader Anwar has proven fearless in expose, unrestrained in pulling a rabbit out of the hat just before the coming general elections.
In the premises there are likely motives linked tio power play behind the whole episode which are unlikely just to intimidate dissent and threaten all bloggers.
It is not so easy to threaten bloggers or to stamp out dissent when a country embraces the Internet like the way Malaysia does and when so many politicians and cronies benefit from ICT projects to ostentatiously make an “e-government”.
#17 by Libra2 on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 8:38 am
undergrad2,
Yes, the police here use legal provisions but their practice is illegal and abuse of those legal provisions.
In Nat’s case where is the justification for the arrest. What crime did he commit?
You cannot make an arrest on suspicion alone,obtain a remand and then say its all done legally.
Malaysian magistrates are zombies and allow the remand application without thinking. I have never heard of them refusing any remand request.
#18 by sotong on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 8:49 am
If the previous administration had done a good job for 20 years and laid the necessary foundation for a modern and progressive country, we would not have so many problems today.
You do not achieve real, permanent and long term results by throwing money at the problems.
#19 by bystander on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 8:56 am
What do you expect from a bunch of morons and fascists? This is a racist country so are Pakistan, Saudi, Turkey, Lebanon. What do they have in common?
#20 by jigsawpuzzle on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 8:59 am
I am getting tired of this country!
It is like a kid…u keep on scolding the kid not to do this, or that….but they never listen. I am exhausted just reading the materials….dont know how Kit has the energy to keep fighting a losing battle.
These bastards dont even show any respect to senior MP’s in parliament. They act like a bunch of retards. I bet most of these retards would be failures if they were running companies…..well actually, indirectly they are running the companies and this is the main reason i dont invest in Malaysia. These bastards manipulate everything.
#21 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 11:27 pm
Libra2 says: “…the police here use legal provisions but their practice is illegal and abuse of those legal provisions.”
First you gotta know that the police are not free to do as they please. Procedures are all laid down in detail in the country’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). The police has to comply with these provisions. Otherwise detention of prisoners would be illegal – meaning they can be freed given access to counsel who knows what to do.
The U.S. Department of State Report on Malaysia refers to “…in general police practice is in accord with legal provisions concerning detention.â€Â
Nathaniel’s detention is according to procedure laid down under the CPC. You cannot therefore say his detention is illegal. You can say there is evidence of abuse of the law. The remand period of three to four days are routinely granted by magistrates who are prosecution minded (more so than a judge because they are usually recent graduates who are just beginning their career in the judiciary) to the police who are charged with investigation. Except in the case of poor Nathaniel they have no intention of charging him with anything! The detention is the punishment.
Why do they want to punish poor Nathaneil – that soft-spoken, honest and God fearing and church going individual? His link to the opposition party PKR only provides the excuse rather the reason for his detention.
The real reason, I respectfully submit, is to frighten bloggers who paddle trash, libel and slander to the public. The message is clear. If they can do that to a young and innocent God fearing law abiding individual like poor Nathaniel who probably would have difficulty in stomping an ant, imagine what they could do to the rest of the bunch.
#22 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 - 11:59 pm
Jeffrey: “It is not so easy to threaten bloggers ..”
Oh yes, it is that easy! They don’t take the whole bunch of course but just do it to a few to make a point. How do you and your family feels if you are among the unfortunate few? That is all it takes.
In the case of Nathaniel Tan, I am not sure who could claim victory for his release – human rights activists who were a little too eager to make a martyr out of this young lad who by their activities condemned Nathaniel to four days in remand instead of two perhaps, or the politicians.
Whoever is responsible for Nathaniel’s detention must have figured out that the arbitrary arrest of this individual would send shock waves through the entire blogging community. They could always rely on human rights activists to do their dirty job for them – which was what happened.
The real victim really is Nathaniel and family members who have had to appeal to human rights activists to cancel their candle light vigil so he could be released earlier.
#23 by dawsheng on Wednesday, 18 July 2007 - 12:41 am
Well, Nat should be aware and saw it coming when he decided to join PKR and be actives in politic. After the this incident, let see how many bloggers chicken out due to family reasons, or finally we will have a Gandhi among these bloggers so democracy in this country will prevails. We shall see how many Lim Kit Siang we have in Malaysia today.
#24 by taikohtai on Wednesday, 18 July 2007 - 4:59 pm
Looks like the polis are being used for the self promoting interests of the corrupted gomen once again. Instead of protecting the rakyat, they are the legalised gangsters led by your very own IGP!
This latest episode is merely an extension of the keris waving incident.
How long can the rakyat be so docile??