Selangor lawmaker to face sedition charge

Shuhaimi (second from right) at the Shah Alam police headquarters today, February 3, 2011 to give his statement.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Seri Muda assemblyman Shuhaimi Shafie will be charged with sedition on Monday over statements regarding the state secretary impasse posted in his blog recently.

Shuhaimi told The Malaysian Insider that he was arrested today and was informed about the charge under section 4(1) C of the Sedition Act 1948. The police later released him on a personal surety.

“I am not sure exactly what is the scope of my charge but I believe it has to do with my blog posting on the state secretary issue,” he said by telephone.

The PKR lawmaker has been subjected to intense attacks by Umno and its mouthpieceUtusan Malaysia, who have accused him of insulting the royal institution after he blogged his comments on December 30 about the state secretary crisis.

He had openly opposed the appointment of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as Selangor state secretary.

According to Shuhaimi, the police contacted him yesterday and asked him to go to the district police headquarters in Shah Alam, but Shuhaimi did not go yesterday because he had a ceramah to attend last night.

“I was arrested today outside the police headquarters,” he said, referring to the state police headquarters in Sekysen 11, Shah Alam.

He said that PKR, through its legal affairs bureau director Latheefa Koya, would be handling the case.

Among the lawyers likely to represent Shuhaimi are Amer Hamzah Arshad, Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin and Latheefa herself.

“The matter of who will represent me has not been finalised yet, but will be done very soon,” Shuhaimi said.

Utusan had published a front-page story with the headline “Shuhaimi derhaka (Shuhaimi committed treason)” on January 3.

The paper quoted Selangor Umno as saying that Shuhaimi should be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly inciting hatred against the royal institution.

Last month, the Selangor Anti-Fraud Coalition (GAPS) and Malay rights group Perkasa lodged a police report against Shuhaimi for allegedly insulting the Selangor Sultan on his website.

Perkasa also called for Shuhaimi to be charged under the Sedition Act.

PKR has however maintained that Shuhaimi was being “harassed” by the police over the matter. - Malaysian Insider