Six to be charged for insulting Perak Sultan via blogs, postings - Star

March 12, 3009 By LOURDES CHARLES

KUALA LUMPUR: Six people, who allegedly insulted the Sultan of Perak via their blogs or online postings, are expected to be charged on Friday under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

They are expected to be charged in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Kota Kinabalu, and Butterworth under Section 233(1) of the Act for unwise use of network or network services by making comments, demands, suggestions or communication deemed vulgar, false, threatening or disturbing. The charges are to be read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

The six will thus become the first to be hauled up under the Act.

Two others are also expected to face similar charges in Terengganu on Sunday.

Those found guilty under the Act face a maximum fine of RM50,000 or a maximum jail term of one year or both as provided for under Section 233(3) of the Act.

Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail confirmed his officers are expected to charge several people on Friday but declined to elaborate on the facts of the case.

It is learnt that several senior Information, Communication and Technology executives working with the Perak State Secretary lodged a report with Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on Feb 16 after reading the offending posting and comments in several of the blogs that is said to be linked to the Sultan of Perak’s web site.

Several of the offending comments were also posted and sent to the Perak state government website.

The MCMC acting on their complaint started a round the clock probe and after about a month of tedious investigations applied and obtained several search warrants from the courts to further investigate the matter.

They (MCMC) officers armed with the search warrants raided several premises and shop lots throughout the country including houses and shops in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Brickfields, Kajang, Sri Kembangan, Permatang Pauh, Ranau in Sabah and several other places where the culprits were alleged to have operated from.

The sources said the raiding team seized lap tops, modems, personal computers and even telephone bills as evidence that is said to belong to the suspects and would produce them as evidence.