Johor Palace raps The Independent for report linking Crown Prince to Robert Kuok saga

(Today Online) – The Johor palace and the state police are set to take action against a Singapore news portal over the publication of an article that they said have falsely linked the Crown Prince of Johor to the recent uproar over Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok.

President of the Johor Council of Royal Court Abdul Rahim Ramli “strongly condemned” the article published on Monday (March 5) by The Independent, adding that it had “manipulated” a supposed statement issued by Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim on the spat between Tourism and Culture Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz and Mr Kuok.

“The legal team of the Johor royal family and the Johor chief of police will pursue necessary actions,” said Mr Abdul Rahim in a statement.

“The Crown Prince of Johor has never issued any statement on the issue. I request everyone to stop linking the Sultan of Johor and the Crown Prince with political issues,” he added.

Mr Nazri has dominated headlines in the past week for criticising Mr Kuok and calling him a “pondan (sissy)” after several unsubstantiated blog posts alleged that the tycoon had funded the opposition Democratic Action Party in a bid to install a Chinese government in place of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Mr Kuok has denied the allegations and Malaysian authorities have asked the blog Malaysia Today and its owner Raja Petra Kamarudin to remove the three articles.

Mr Abdul Rahim said that any statements issued by the Palace would be done so through the Johor Royal Press Office or the Johor Southern Tigers website.

“Any statements coming from anything other than these sources are deemed untrue.”

Mr Abdul Rahim’s statement was posted on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page, along with a screenshot of the Independent article titled “Johor Crown Prince chides ‘no balls’ Malaysian Minister”.

Johor police chief Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the state police have initiated investigations after receiving a report at 12.15 am on Tuesday (March 6) on the allegedly false and slanderous news article by The Independent.

“Initial investigations revealed that the news portal’s administrator had removed the said article,” he said.

“We have started investigations under Section 500 of the Penal Code for defamation, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper use of network facilities,” he added in a statement.

Section 500 of the Penal Code provides for a fine or two years jail, or both, upon conviction while those who violate Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 are liable to be jailed up to a year, fined up to RM50,000, or both.

The police chief also warned any online site and portal administrators to check on their content sources as to determine accuracy before publishing.

“The Johor police will not compromise on any administrators who publish or write articles that are false, offensive and touch on sensitivities,” he said.

He also advised the public not to be easily duped by news carried on social media or websites without checking on their authenticity.

“Stern action in accordance with the law will be taken against anyone found to have misused social media.”

When contacted on Tuesday evening, The Independent’s publisher Kumaran Pillai said the publication had not been contacted by the Johor police but would cooperate with its investigations.

“I received a call on my mobile at 10pm last night from His Royal Highness’s office and we took the article down immediately,” he said, declining to say what was communicated over the phone.

He did not address a query on why the article was published, saying that the matter is now under investigation by Johor police.

A check on the old article site showed it carrying a “retraction notice” with the following message: “The following article has not met our editorial standards and has been duly retracted. It was the result of a process that on this occasion failed to rise to our standards of argument and editorial treatment. For this failure and for the grievances caused, we apologise.”