UPDATE (18 Jul, 10:45am):
Nat is finally FREED! He was released on bail yesterday just after 5pm, and is required to report back to the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) in KL on July 31. Until today nobody is sure on what specific grounds Nat has been remanded for and interrogated, other than the vague OSA reason given. Regardless, the most important thing is that blogosphere, opposition, and activists stood together, resolute in fighting this injustice, and showed to the authorities that such fear tactics and intimidation will not work. The forum (details below) is still on, and Nat will be there to speak of his experience. Come and hear him!
UPDATE (19 Jul, 13:45): Nat has written about his experience being under remand for 4 days. Click here to read the English and Bahasa Malaysia version.
Original Posting:
This time they've went for Nathaniel Tan, Anwar's secretary in Foundation for the Future as well as a PKR worker. They didn't state the grounds for his arrest/remand when taking him away from his office, took him to his house to grab his desktop and monitor (wonder why they want the monitor...perhaps the police department don't have spare monitors) and then whisk him off to various police stations in the city, playing cat-and-mouse game with his lawyers, his family, PKR, and NGOs. Finally got a 4-day remand order (after unsuccessfully getting a 14-day remand) in order for them to investigate him under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
The charge is supposedly for a comment left by a reader in his blog which reproduced some part of a mysterious website which appeared from nowhere alleging Johari Baharum, the Deputy Internal Security Minister, of corruption with regards to the freeing of 3 detainees under the Emergency Ordinance. The ACA has since then cleared Johari of the allegations, and Johari has ordered the police to nab the person responsible for this slander. How such material which alleged the corruption of a person be a state secret (logical implication since Nat is being investigated under the OSA) is beyond me. RPK in Malaysia-Today has linked to that mysterious website before, as well as speculating that it could be the work of insiders, a result from the tiff between Johari and the PDRM. In a sense this investigation of Nat could just be an excuse to find a fallguy or scapegoat.
In any case, Nat should be freed. The charges (which so far are not even clear) are really flimsy. Instead of being genuinely in the wrong (the alleged "secrets" were not even written by him but left by some readers in the comment section, which Nat sees fit to delete most of the content because of its nature but provided a hyperlink to the mysterious website) it is more likely than not that he is just a pawn trapped in the power play between Johari and Musa (whom incidentally Johari has asked the ACA to investigate regarding alleged links with triads). That itself is a good enough reason for the police to stop harassing him and free him. That is because they simply have no real reason to continue holding on to him. We, the rakyat, have to voice out and speak out. If we choose to cower in fear and keep quiet, it would be precisely what the government wants. Break that fear! Free Nat!
There will be a forum on Nat's persecution and experience this Thursday 19 July at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. Nat is supposed to be freed this afternoon, according to his sister Cheryl, and Malaysiakini. Details below, and read more about it here.
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends
The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:
* Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor
* Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
* Haris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People's Parliament
* Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
* Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
* Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
Chairperson: Soon Li Tsin, Journalist & Blogger
We'll also be trying to leave as much time to the floor as possible, so as to enable greater interaction at the forum.
Courtesy of Mob's Crib
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