PKR leader held over 'fake' Twitter account

Prominent PKR leader Badrul Hisham Shahrin was yesterday detained by police over allegedly seditious posts on what he claims is a “fake” account with micro-blogging site Twitter.

“I've just been freed (on police bail) because Umno lodged a police report in Ampang over a Twitter account with the name AMK Rembau which purportedly maligned the royal institution.

“I insisted that the AMK Rembau account has nothing to do with the PKR Youth division but police confiscated my Blackberry smartphone and tried to find my laptop computer and the division’s computer,” he posted on his own Twitter account last night.  

Malaysiakini’s checks found that there is no Twitter account by the name AMK Rembau, although a search for the account on the micro-blogging site returned one result - an account called Umno Baru.

AMK is the Malay acronym of the PKR Youth wing.
 
The Rembau-based Youth leader popularly known as Chegubard said that the “fake” account was already in operation during PKR’s heated party polls last year.

“This AMK Rembau account existed since the party polls, and is managed by those who want to malign me. This is the type of nasty political strategy which exists within PKR,” he said.

Chegubard, who lost in his bid for Youth chief to incumbent Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, added that there is also a fake account on the social networking site Facebook.

“Many issues from the party polls have yet to be resolved, so the strategy is to use the fake accounts... I don’t have time to entertain such dirty internal political games. I hardly have enough time for myself,” said the active grassroots campaigner, who does not hold any official post in the party.  

Lewd comments
In a separate press statement, Rembau PKR Youth chief Md Sani Mohd Shah reiterated that his division has no links to the AMK Rembau account.

“I am certain that this account was used to confuse the public by showing our division in bad light. The user has been observed making lewd comments and making all sorts of inappropriate statements,” he said.

The posting which brought the police to the division’s doorstep, he said, was a one maligning the Agong.

“The Rembau PKR Youth division rejects the use of this evil tactic. We are warning those behind the AMK Rembau account to stop their dirty politics.

“You have won in the party polls, so do the work. Don't blame Chegubard and his friends if you have failed to do so,” he said.

Md Sani also called on party authorities to investigate claims of rigging in the party’s internal polls.

“We have been patient for very long for the sake of the party but we are constantly demonised. Are we traitors because we spoke out over irregularities within the party polls?” he asked.

Chegubard had during the party polls written to party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to conduct an investigation over claims of vote rigging, involving de facto party leader Anwar Ibrahim.