IGP warns FMT columnist

FMT columnist Mariam Mokhtar has been warned for writing articles that can be deemed seditious.

KOTA KINABALU: Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar has warned freemalaysiatoday.com’s columnist, Mariam Mokhtar, from writing articles that can be deemed seditious.

He was displeased with her article, entitled “One Ideology, Two Reactions”, published on the portal yesterday, in which she questioned the government’s discriminating treatment on the return of two Malaysian-born communist radicals — ashes of the deceased Malayan Communist Party leader Chin Peng from Bangkok, Thailand and Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab, who had been influenced by the political ideology and was allegedly held as a slave in London for 30 years.

“She (Mariam Mokhtar) had better watch out or we will go after her.

“This (article) is highly seditious. Don’t publish just to attract people to visit your website. That can also be an invitation for us (police) to come and apprehend you,” he told reporters after the opening of the Security and Public Order Seminar here today.

The seminar was opened by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

Khalid was disappointed that the columnist could not differentiate the degree of the offence committed by Siti Aishah and Chin Peng.

“Even an uneducated person understands why the government allowed Siti Aishah to return home and not Chin Peng’s ashes. It is not because one is a Malay and the other, a Chinese.

“Chin Peng was involved in armed struggle, while Siti Aishah purely adopted a leftist ideology. Tell me how many people has she killed?” he asked.

Khalid said no action would be taken against Siti Aishah should she return to Malaysia on the grounds that she was already 69 years old and that her offence was committed a long time ago.

Regarding Siti Aishah’s citizenship, he said police were still waiting for a report from the United Kingdom on whether or not she had given up her Malaysian citizenship during the 45 years she was in the European country.

The woman, who hails from Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, left the country in 1968 to pursue her studies at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, but neglected her studies after being influenced by the leftist ideology.

– Bernama