 KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 ― After losing his iPad in a sedition investigation, controversial PKR politician Chua Tian Chang accused the police of behaving like “thugs” in confiscating his mobile phone last night. In a series of late night tweets, the PKR vice-president said he had been “publicly humiliated” when a team of plainclothes policemen cornered him at a hotel in Petaling Jaya before forcibly taking away his mobile phone. “Friends, I'm now incommunicado & helpless ― a technology-dependent life facing a connectivity crisis! Damn the police state! “The police raid team surrounded Armada Hotel as if they were seizing a big time criminal & they publicly humiliated me in front of my guest,” he posted on his Twitter account, @tianchua. The Batu MP claimed the policemen had not identified themselves during the raid, only that they had a search warrant for a sedition investigation against him. “The police were behaving like thugs in investigation: they waved a piece of paper propertied to be a search warrant justifying the seizure,” Chua said on Twitter. Attempts by The Malay Mail Online to contact Chua on Twitter were unsuccessful. His personal assistant, Rozan Azen Mat Arip confirmed with The Malay Mail Online that Chua's mobile phone had been seized by the police, and added that his boss was still able to post comments on the microblogging site through another iPad. “YB Tian was at Armada Hotel meeting someone, and then ten plainclothes policemen suddenly ambushed him, asking him for his phone,” he said when contacted last night. Rozan said Chua surrendered the phone under pressure. “We are now talking with lawyers to see what to do next,” the politican's aide said. The second-term federal lawmaker popularly known as Tian Chua is no stranger to controversy on the Internet. Police took away his iPad for investigation after Chua posted a tweet promising to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in five months, on the heels of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy conviction. “Najib sentenced Anwar to 5-year imprisonment ― the people will bring down Najib in 5 months, that I promise you!!” Chua had tweeted on March 8. He has also been slapped with sedition charges for over allegedly seditious remarks uttered at a May 13 forum last year. Chua and four others ― Hishammuddin, activists Haris Ibrahim and Muhammad Safwan Anang, politician Tamrin Ghafar ― were all charged in the Sessions Court last May 29 under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Sedition Act for allegedly uttering words that have the tendency to call on Malaysians to change the government by unlawful means. If convicted under the same section, all six will be liable for a fine of up to RM5,000 and a jail term of up to three years, which could possibly see elected representative Chua losing his Batu parliamentary seat. MMail
|
Artikel Terpanas Minggu ini |
ADVERTISEMENT
36977
14
