Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), the editor of news portal Malaysia Today, claimed trial at the Petaling Jaya J Sessions Court to publishing a seditious article on April 25.He was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948. His trial has been set from Oct 6-10 2008.
Nine paragraphs in his article titled "Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell" were found to be seditious. The article was posted on his website on April 25, the Star reports. (read here )
The court set his bail at RM5,000. However, RPK declined to post bail. He will be staying at Sungei Buloh from today until a time when theR M5,000 bail is raised and posted, according to Rocky'sbru.
His wife Marina Lee Abdullah said he is hoping to raise the money through his news portal.
As of 2.30pm Tuesday, he was still in lockup at the PJ sessions court.
Earlier Tuesday, Raja Petra arrived at the magistrates’ court in the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex in Jalan Duta at 9.06am.
He was later instructed to go to the PJ Sessions Court to be charged.
A crowd of about a hundred people were gathered at the Jalan Duta court. Among them were bloggers and Opposition MPs including Nurul Izzah Anwar (Lembah Pantai).
The Malaysia Today Editor is being defended by seven lawyers.
*pic 1: courtesy of Knights Templar
*pix 2: courtesy of the Sun: RPK caused a stir when he refused to take up judge Nurmala Salim's bail offer of RM5,000, choosing instead to go to Sungai Buloh prison, until the trial fixed for Oct 6-10. If found guilty, Raja Petra can be jailed a maximum of three years and/or face a fine of up to RM5,000.
5 comments:
I think the point of raising RM1 per blogger is a symbolic value so as to gauge the # of supporters MT have.
Whether we agree or disagree with the views of RPK & MT, what MT has done is
Vocalize the great discontent we the commoner have with abuses whether
- within the govt,
- opposition or
- the various religious groups
MT can not have any following - (and indeed neither can any of other sites)
IF the freedom of information is not given freely in the main media
The freedom of info is also a by-product of Good Corporate Governance - an honest man has nothing to hide
So why would anyone be afraid of a puny blogger - afraid anough to clamp him shut?
Sedition?
Did he advocate us to rise up & topple our government?
NO
I, for one, have never felt for 1 single instant that due to RPK's rousing that I have to go out to topple the govt
As far as the truth is concerned..
"May a thousand flowers bloom"
Kak Ton, they have lost 5 states and they still havent learn anything from their losses. I believe this is a big mistake on their side, and RPK fans have donated way above the 5000 mark. Why are they afraid of RPK, shouldn't they be considering the actual murderers of Altantuya. Why so worried until the need to lock him up. So much for freedom of press, and what are they afraid of? the truth?
It's ironic that less than four days after celebrating World Press Freedom we have someone who is seeking Justice gets charged for Sedition.
Way to go Malaysia. Semua Boleh. Semua OK.
"They" just wanna shut him up. But they" dont know what they've gotten themselves into.
We're with you, Pete.
And God Bless!
I aint no lawyer but I see nothing wrong reading para 9 which the powers that be claimed to be seditious.
There's nothing there which could cause or incite hatred or asking us the people to take up arms againts the government or incite racial hatred against any community.
I thought that is what is meant by sedition.
Post a Comment