Rahim Thamby Chik fined RM1,900
Ex-Malacca CM pleads guilty to using his Facebook account to make comments of a seditious nature against the Raja Muda of Selangor.
(FMT) – Former Malacca chief minister Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik was fined RM1,900 by a Sessions Court after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of using his Facebook account to make and send comments of a seditious nature against the Raja Muda of Selangor.
The prosecution, led by Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman, then dropped the principle charge of sedition.
Rahim, 66, also offered an unreserved apology to the crown prince in a statement read in court by his lawyer Ahmad Al-Hadi Abdul Razak.
Meanwhile, lead counsel Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin mitigated for the court to consider Rahim’s long service to the nation.
“He was a chief minister and a former deputy minister of home affairs,” he told judge Slamat Yahya.
He was fined RM1,900 or three month’s jail. Rahim paid the fine.
In October 2015, Rahim pleaded not guilty to publishing a seditious post alleging that Selangor Raja Muda Tengku Amir Shah was an apostate in his Facebook account.
He was alleged to have committed the offence via his Facebook account here on Sept 25, 2015.
Those found guilty can be fined a maximum RM5,000 or jailed up to three years or both.
He had also pleaded not guilty, at the earlier hearing, to the alternative charge of using his Facebook account to make and send comments of a seditious nature with the intention of hurting the feelings of another person, at the same place, time and date. However, he pleaded guilty to this charge today.
The charge, framed under the Communications and Multimedia Act enables the court to impose a fine of up to RM50,000 or a maximum jail term of one year or both upon conviction.
