ANWAR'S AIDE DETAINED UNDER OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001155

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR EAP/MTS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KJUS MY
SUBJECT: ANWAR'S AIDE DETAINED UNDER OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT


Summary
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1. (SBU) Malaysian police on July 13 arrested Nathanial Tan,
an aide to Anwar Ibrahim and an activist within the
opposition People's Justice Party (KeADILan or PKR),and on
July 14 remanded Tan for four days under the Official Secrets
Act (OSA). According to initial reports, the charges relate
to information posted on Tan's website related to a
corruption case, rather than Tan's role as secretary to Anwar
in Anwar's capacity as chairman of the U.S.-supported
Foundation for the Future. Opposition politicians and local
NGOs expressed concern that Tan's arrest could signal a
government effort to clamp down on cyberspace, while others
speculated it could be an effort to disrupt PKR before the
coming elections. Tan will have his next court hearing on
July 17 at the expiration of his initial detention period.
End Summary.

Prominent Blogger Arrested
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2. (SBU) Nathaniel Tan, a prominent blogger, an aide of
former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the editor of
opposition PKR's online newspaper "Suara KeADILan" was
detained by the police July 13 and remanded the next day for
four days for violating the OSA. According to press reports,
Tan's remand for investigation related to possible violation
of Section 8 of the OSA Official Secrets Act 1972, which
concerns "wrongful communication, etc. of official secret."
The police reportedly are questioning Tan in connection to an
Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) investigation against Deputy
Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom based on
allegations on an anonymous website entitled, "The Most
Powerful but Corrupted Deputy Minister." This site claimed
that the deputy minister received huge bribes to free several
detainees held under the Emergency Ordinance. Tan's lawyers
have filed an appeal against the remand order, which the
court will address on July 17 when Tan's initial four-day
detention expires.


3. (SBU) Tan had posted the comment made by an individual on
Tan's blog ("www.jelas.info") in which the individual had
re-published three paragraphs found in the anonymous website
implicating Johari. In his blog, Tan had qualified himself by
pointing out that he cannot publish the rest of the comment
by the individual as, "the sources were unattributed and the
information unverified." Tan added that readers can visit
"the author's site, where the exact same information is
posted." When arresting Tan, the police took away documents,
computer disks and computers from Tan's office, home and car.
According to one source, documents included some related to
the Foundation for the Future.


4. (U) Deputy Minister Johari Baharom was recently cleared
by the ACA on the corruption allegation posted on the
anonymous website and Attorney General Chambers ordered the
investigation to be closed. According to oneline news source
Malaysiakini, the police are also seeking the individual who
posted the original comment in the anonymous website. If
convicted, Tan would face a mandatory jail term of at least
one year to a maximum of seven years. The arrest came just
two days after the Multimedia and Communication Commission
(MCMC) decided to investigate another blogger and PKR
Information Chief Tian Chua for publishing a digitally
manipulated photo of the deputy Prime Minister dining with a
Mongolian murder victim and one of the accused.


5. (SBU) One of Tan's lawyers told poloffs that Tan's arrest
for OSA investigation is "a farce." He argued that the
reason given by the police was "totally unacceptable" as
numerous other websites also included a link to the anonymous
website that contained the corruption allegations, but police
had not targeted the other sites. The lawyer speculated that
the authorities detained Tan, "to get more information on the
Foundation for the Future." Anwar Ibrahim, whose July 13
press release first identified Tan as his secretary in his
role as Chairman of the Foundation for the Future, strongly
condemned Tan's arrest in his publicized remarks. He called
on the Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan (who
incidentally was the chief investigating officer when Anwar
was arrested for corruption and sodomy in 1998) to explain
immediately "on what grounds Nathaniel is being detained."
Another theory circulating in opposition circles is that
Tan's arrest reflects an attempt to disrupt PKR ahead of the
coming elections.

Reactions Focus on Defense of Cyberspace
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KUALA LUMP 00001155 002 OF 002




6. (U) Opposition Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang
commented that Tan's detention could be a signal that the
government is planning to clamp down on bloggers who have
been exposing official corruption and abuses in their blogs.
Local NGOs also condemned Tan's detention and urged PM
Abdullah's government not to restrict freedom of speech in
cyberspace. A leader of the Center of Independence of
Journalism told poloffs that the detention "is a form of
intimidation against a blogger who has differing view from
that of the government" and Tan's prolonged detention "sends
a chilling effect to other bloggers and is a form of indirect
censorship." Human rights NGO Suaram echoed CIJ's concern
and added that the police should stop the practice of "arrest
first and investigate later."

Comment
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7. (SBU) If the police rational for Tan's arrest remains
unchanged, this would be the first case known to us of the
government arresting a blogger for internet activities.
Several other prominent bloggers now face civil suits for
information they have posted online. We will learn more
after Tan's July 17 hearing.
LAFLEUR