Turn yourself in, police tell bloggers
(The Star) – Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has asked controversial bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee to surrender to the police here.
Khalid said their actions had caused anger in certain quarters, which in turn had indirectly caused a man to be abducted and graffiti to be written on his body in Shah Alam.
“The motive for that (abduction) was revenge for what Alvin and Vivian did,” he said at a press conference in Bukit Aman here yesterday.
Last Thursday, the couple uploaded on their Facebook page a picture of them eating bak kut teh (a pork dish) and at the same time putting up a Selamat Berbuka Puasa (breaking of fast for Muslims) greeting.
Khalid explained that in addition to the investigation carried out by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the pair were also investigated by police for uttering words with deliberate intent to insult Islam.
“That is a non-seizable case, which means we cannot arrest them without a warrant. However, in light of the recent abduction, we have opened a new investigation paper against the two today for insulting a religion, in which case we do not need a warrant to arrest them,” he said.
He advised the couple to surrender to city police.
Khalid said the abduction happened around 3am yesterday when the victim, 24, was taken by a group of men while having a meal with his girlfriend at a restaurant.
The group allegedly stripped the victim and took him to a wooded area before beating him up.
They also wrote “Saya Hina Agama Islam (I Insulted Islam)” on his body.
Khalid said police were investigating allegations that the victim had posted insensitive religious comments on Facebook and Twitter.
Four suspects were arrested a few hours after the incident.
