Raja Petra was first interrogated by police from the Cyber Crimes Division a week earlier on 8 July 2005. He says that he was questioned for two hours about articles relating to the Negri Sembilan royal family, alleging corruption and political interference.

On 14 July, five police officers confiscated two computers from Raja Petra’s home, and told him they would be returned on 18 July. When the Centre for Independent Journalism called the police officer carrying out the investigation on 19 July, he said that they were needed for investigation for another ‘one or two weeks’.  

The officer confirmed that the investigation is being carried out under the Sedition Act 1960, which carries a sentence of three to five years. Sedition in Malaysia is very broadly defined, but includes a section aimed at preventing questioning of the position of the royal families.

This is one of a series of attacks on Malaysian Internet journalists and bloggers. Despite stated commitments to freedom of expression on the Internet, there has been increasing harassment under the Sedition Act and the Penal Code. In the last three months of last year alone, three separate websites were targeted and threatened with various pieces of legislation.

This action comes in the wake of the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s call to the Government and its agencies to respect criticism from the media and to accept it as feedback that could be acted upon.

The Centre for Independent Journalism calls on the Government to protect freedom of speech on the Internet and in traditional media by reviewing the Sedition Act and other legislation that impinges on these rights.