The authorities have classified the investigation against Malaysiakini senior journalist B Nantha Kumar in connection with an article concerning a proposed migrant worker recruitment system as “no further action”.
The matter was confirmed in a letter by the Sepang district police headquarters today.
“The police report lodged (against the article) was probed under Section 203A of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 by our senior officer, Boby Tamat.
“The results of the investigation were referred to the head of the General Crime and Public Order Unit and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and were classified as no further action,” the letter stated.
It was signed by Sepang district police headquarters Criminal Investigation Department chief Basirul Hapi Ibrahim.
Home raided
On April 27, the police raided Nantha’s home, with two plainclothes officers arriving at 2.30pm and searching the residence at Seri Serdang, Selangor, for about 45 minutes.
“However, no items were seized during the raid,” Nantha said.
Nantha was furnished with a search warrant stating that police have grounds to suspect that the “house or premises is being used for storage purposes, where it is believed that copies - both physical and material - of official documents exist, namely the cabinet memorandum (jemaah menteri memorandum) titled ‘Proposal for the Implementation of the Digital System The Universal Recruitment Advanced Platform (Turap) in the Process of Recruiting Foreign Workers to Malaysia’.”
It was learnt that the Human Resources Ministry lodged the report against the article after failing to respond to Malaysiakini’s repeated requests for comment before the article’s publication.
Before the raid, the police also recorded statements from Nantha and Malaysiakini founder and director Premesh Chandran.
The raid drew brickbats from the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM) and its Malaysiakini chapter, warning that the move risks undermining press freedom and is tantamount to intimidation against the media.
“We underscore a fundamental principle in any democratic society: journalism is not a crime,” the group emphasised. - Mkini
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