Hello all,
I’m sorry I couldn’t blog here sooner. I’ve been tied up with mobilising more people to put Mob’s poster up and researching on a particular deputy minister.
The magistrate today had granted the police power to remand Nat for another four days under the Section 8 of the OSA over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharom’s alleged involvement in corruption. He is scheduled to come out on Tuesday from his current location, IPD Dang Wangi on Jalan Stadium KL and we hope to get a good crowd there. Watch this space for announcements.
The four day remand stems from the police requesting Nat’s presence while they sort out some ‘technical difficulties’ (maybe they’ll ask Nat, “Er, macam mana guna computer ni,? Apa tu blog?”). His lawyers R Sivarasa and Latheefa Koya argued that he could be investigated without being remanded. It’s not like he will run away as he has shown 100% cooperation with the police the moment he was arrested at 5pm on Friday. They would be filing in papers on Monday concerning the remand order.
Siva told us that Nat’s in good spirits (as always) and was excited to share some inmate stories as he has befriended a few of them. During the remand hearing, Nat waved to us who were present (family, PKR and NGO friends) despite being handcuffed at the back. I would like to note that Nat had given his lockup shirt to a fellow inmate who didn’t have a shirt (but he wasn’t t-shirtless in courtlah). He also said he was given tap water to drink. Nat was also seen barefooted and apparently this is the way remand is like.
In the evening, his family and I went to IPD Dang Wangi hoping to see him and pass him some stuff. The police officer won’t let us saying:
1. only weekdays
2. only office hours
3. with permission from the investigating officer or the OCPD
She also denied giving them tap water to drink. “Takkan kita bohong,” she said. In the end, we managed to pass her two 1 litre bottles of mineral water for Nat. Another officer told us we can only pass Nat the bottled water and nothing else. I guess that’s okay. As long as he knows we came and he got his precious H2O.
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Corruption can end only if there is freedom of information. It is crucial to the survival of that there must be absolute freedom of information excect slicing out a small portion if it is impringing on the security of the country. Only than then will there be complete transparency.
All information that affects public interest should be made available to the public and the media as it has a crucial role to play. “The right to know was as much a basic right as to the one to breathe fresh air and to drink fresh water without obstruction.”
As Winston Churchill said, ” The Official Secrets Act is invariably used to defend ministers who tell lies”. the right to know should be included in the Constitution.
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