PETALING JAYA: Police arrested The Malaysian Insider (TMI) managing editor Lionel Morais, Malay news editor Amin Shah Iskandar and features and analysis editor Zulkifli Sulong yesterday over a report on hudud related to the Conference of Rulers.

Police together with Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) officials raided TMI’s office in Mutiara Damansara and made the arrests following a police report lodged by an official of the Conference of Rulers last week.

About a dozen police and MCMC officers came to the office at 5.52pm yesterday and spent about half an hour checking an editor’s computer before interviewing Morais, Amin Shah and Zulkifli.

Lawyer Syahredzan Johan, acting for the editors, said the investigations are under Section 4 of the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

He said the three editors would be held at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters last night and police would apply for remand this morning.

The Edge Media Group’s chief executive officer and publisher Ho Kay Tat, who owns TMI, said: “We don’t think the arrests are necessary as they can meet the police any time to have their statements taken. We call on the police to release them immediately.”

Ho said the police officers and investigators from MCMC were very cordial.

“We cooperated fully with them, but could not convince them that there is no necessity to take the three editors to the police lock-up for the night,” said Ho.

TMI has engaged Syahredzan to represent the three men at their remand hearing today.

The report published on March 25 said the Conference of Rulers had rejected a proposal to amend a federal law that would pave the way for hudud to be enforced in Kelantan.

The article said the proposal to amend the law was in a report by the joint hudud technical committee, which comprises Kelantan state religious officials and those from the federal government. The joint committee had prepared the report on the proposed amendments for the rulers to consider at their meeting on March 11, but it did not go through.

The Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal lodged a police report on March 26 to deny that the Conference of Rulers had discussed the matter — and that it had never issued any statement on hudud in Kelantan.

On Sunday, Kedah Umno Youth filed a police report against TMI and called for stern action against the portal over the report.

Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliament also complained about the matter.

Over the weekend, Utusan Malaysia carried several reports calling for action against the portal.

Controversy has broken out over hudud after the PAS-led Kelantan state government on March 19 passed an amendment to a state law on hudud, which was supported by all the assemblymen from Umno.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has also tabled a private member’s bill in the current sitting of parliament to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act — a federal law — to enable hudud to be implemented.

This has provoked an outcry among some BN component parties, as well as from the Pakatan Rakyat.

It is, however, not clear if the bill tabled by Abdul Hadi will be debated and voted on in the current session of parliament. The TMI article said without the consent of the Conference of Rulers, it will not be possible for Abdul Hadi’s bill to be made into law. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 31, 2015.