Go after media ‘tauke’ for royal attacks, authorities told

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Malay rights group Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) called on the authorities today to take legal action against three men whom they claimed to be the masterminds of an insidious plot to “ruin” the country’s royal institution and Islam.

In the wake of the arrests of senior editorial staff from news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and its publisher, the head of The Edge Media group, JMM president Azwanddin Hamzah urged going after the “owners” instead of their “tools”.

“The arrest of TMI three editors is insufficient as the real owners and board members of The Edge Communication Sdn Bhd is Tong Kooi Ong, Ahmad Bin Abdullah and Tan Boon Kean are free till now,” he said in a statement.

While Tong is on The Edge’s board, little is known of Ahmad. Tan is a former managing director in The Edge.

But Azwanddin claimed the trio were still in charge of not just The Edge, which now owns TMI, but also of independent radio station BFM.

“All three media were formed to carry out their agenda which is to ruin the Malay royal institution as well as Islam,” he said.

“They are the ones who should be prosecuted for carrying out the agenda to bring down the Malay royal institution and Islam,” he added.

This comes after Tourism and Culture minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today that Putrajaya should retain the Sedition Act 1948 to safeguard the position of the country’s Malay royal institution.

"We need the Sedition Act in order for us to get all Malaysians to respect Malay Rulers as a symbol of unity in the country.

"And in order to protect their stature we need the Sedition Act," he told reporters at a news conference in Parliament, in response to the arrest of four journalists from TMI and their publisher.

Azwanddin alleged the news content carried by TMI, business daily The Edge and BFM were produced at the orders of the three men and contained an “agenda” against the Malay rulers.

“If we look at the media that they own, at this time it definitely very obviously leans towards carrying out an agenda to bring down the Malay royal institution,” he said.

“JMM has proof that all these media are owned by one ‘tauke’. What is their true agenda behind all this?” he asked, but did not elaborate on the evidence in his statement.

Yesterday, TMI managing editor Lionel Morais, its Bahasa Malaysia news editor Amin Shah Iskandar and features and analysis editor Zulkifli Sulong were arrested under the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the latter which deals with “improper use of network facilities or network services”.

The trio were released about 8.20pm today after spending a night in the Dang Wangi district police station here.

The news portal’s chief executive Jahabar Sadiq and Ho Kay Tat, the group chief executive officer of The Edge Media Group that owns TMI, were arrested this morning under the same laws when they went to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters to have their statements recorded.

The arrests and detention are said to be over TMI’s news report last week citing an unnamed source as claiming that the Conference of Rulers had rejected proposed legal amendments that would allow hudud to be enforced.

This was later denied by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, who also lodged a police report over the article.

BFM’s radio Aisyah Rajuddin received rape and death threats after posting a video on YouTube questioning the implementation of hudud in Kelantan on March 19.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has since ordered a police probe on both BFM over its video criticising hudud as well as those who allegedly threatened to rape and kill the station’s presenter.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission is also investigating the clip under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 over improper use of network facilities.

The journalists are the latest to be included a sedition dragnet against government dissenters that started last month and have resulted in nearly 100 arrests.

The arrests drew immediate condemnation from opposition politicians and rights and media groups.