PKR veep lodges report over false tweets

The false statements associated himself with the death of a policeman in Perak in May.

According to the report, a tweet dated May 22 was uploaded from his account with words that he had never said.

The tweet reads: "Almost everyday policemen were killed in India. But in Malaysia when a Malay police killed it becomes a big issue."

"I have filed a police report against pro-BN bloggers and the holders of pro-BN twitter accounts in which they’ve issued several statements accusing me of being racial and so forth.

"It is clear that it is an attempt to make me and the Parti Keadilan Rakyat as racial and inhumane," said Surendran when met outside the Dang Wangi district police station.

The Padang Serai MP lodged the report at 11.15am and was accompanied by his personal attorney, Eric Paulsen and PKR communications director, Fahmi Fadzil.

Surendran, however, was not able to identify the true identity of the bloggers involved and asked the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to investigate.

He said this was not the first time that the opposition leaders and civil society were attacked by pro-BN bloggers, and he wanted it to be stopped immediately.

"Although the BN leaders know about this, they never take action or warn their supporters to not do this," said Surendran, who described the action of forging a Twitter account as a crime.

He said, the first blog where he saw the first false tweet was sejarahmelayu.blogspot.com blog, in which it spread via Twitter, including the account @mozas_my29 and other blogs.

He added that such actions were detrimental to his reputation and good name as a MP and politician.

Echoing Surendran, Fahmi said this was not the first time such a case against a Pakatan Rakyat MP had transpired.

He said similar cases have happened to Batu MP Tian Chua, Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh and the Anwar Ibrahim Club, saying this action seem premeditated.

The false message was made using Photoshop, which is then transmitted by bloggers through blogs and Twitter.

"I hope the police do not delay in conducting a thorough investigation to catch them and to make sure this does not happen again, " he said.

Fahmi also asked the police to provide a response to the phone-hacking issue involving Pakatan Rakyat leaders every time a by-election happens.

Meanwhile, Paulsen said, the person can be sentenced to three years' jail under section 469 of the Penal Code if convicted.

"This is a very serious issue and those who spread the false statement is also guilty of the offense. We want the police to investigate quickly and transparently, and for the Commission to take action and reveal who is actually responsible for the blog and tweets," he said.

On May 26, a policeman from the Kerian police Motorcycle Patrol Unit, Lance Corporal Mohd Azuan Abdullah, 25, died after being hit by a car at Parit Buntar.

In the 1.15pm incident, the Toyota Wish car, allegedly driven by a robber involved in a case near Alor Pongsu, had rammed in Mohd Azuan's and his partner's motorcycles at the 10th Mile of the road towards Alor Pongsu near Parit Buntar.