By Melissa Chi, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — The police bid to interview Raja Petra Kamarudin at the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok was a trap to bring the controversial blogger back home, his lawyer said today.
Lawyer Haris Ibrahim said he warned the Malaysia Today editor to insist on having his statement taken at a Bangkok hotel rather than in the embassy, which is considered Malaysian territory.
“We voiced our concerns that the embassy, in international law deemed as Malaysian soil, we feared that this whole business of taking his statement there was a ruse to get him in there, effect an arrest and then, with or without the aid of the local authorities, have him repatriated back to Kamunting,” Haris said in a posting at his harismibrahim.wordpress.com blog.
Raja Petra was in Bangkok to launch his Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) Thai chapter in his capacity as the group’s chairman. Haris is the MCLM president.
“RPK, seemingly believing that the statement sought was in the furtherance of investigations into the individual or individuals named in his recent interview aired over TV3, was quite determined to attend at the embassy to give his statement,” Haris added.
He said Malaysian diplomat Abdul Hamid Bulat had contacted Raja Petra, asking him to give a statement at the embassy yesterday.
Police later confirmed two Bukit Aman officials had gone to Bangkok to record a statement from the blogger.
Haris also said Raja Petra’s other lawyer Amarjit Sidhu asked about the scope of the investigation but Hamid had no details.
“Amarjit and I were most uncomfortable with the idea of RPK going to the embassy to give his statement.
“Meanwhile, even before the talk began, both Amarjit and I were receiving calls and sms’s from people back home saying that there was already media news that RPK was to be questioned at the embassy. There were also rumours flying around that he had been, or would be, arrested,” he said.
He related that Hamid and two police officers came to Raja Petra’s hotel last night to persuade the blogger to give his statement at the embassy.
Haris told The Malaysian Insider that Raja Petra has yet to give a statement to Malaysian police in Bangkok following a dispute over the purpose of the police investigation.
The Malaysia Today news portal editor was asked to give a statement during his visit to the Thai capital yesterday but he balked when police wanted to record the matter under Section 203 of the Criminal Procedure Code which relates to making a false statement.
Both Amarjit and Haris accepted the offer to see the police report at the embassy, but insisted that Raja Petra would remain at the hotel while the two of them go to the embassy to view the contents of the police report.
Haris said that they were then informed that the police officers did not have a copy of the police report and that was waiting a copy to be faxed from KL.
“This was the first serious confirmation for both Amarjit and I that this whole business of wanting to take RPK’s statement at the embassy was a ruse to facilitate some other agenda.
“Why would the investigating officer come all the way to Bangkok to question a witness to a possible crime and not have a copy of the police report with him? The whole thing stank,” he said.
After discussing with Amarjit, Haris said he had called an officer named Aziz to inform him that Raja Petra is willing to give his statement at the hotel, to which Aziz said “Tak payahlah” (No need).
Haris pointed out that it was strange that a police officer traveled all the way to Thailand to take a statement, not from the accused but a witness, and one willing to give the same, but now refused to do so unless the witness was willing to step into the embassy.
“Was it a statement from the witness that was sought, or the presence of the witness on ‘Malaysian soil’ in Thailand?
“Amarjit, Marina and I are convinced that this whole business of attending at the embassy to give his statement was a hare-brained scheme by idiots back home to lure RPK onto ‘Malaysian soil’ as a first step to repatriation back to Kamunting, whether through means foul or fair,” he said.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said last night Raja Petra had agreed to give his statement to two Bukit Aman officers at the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok.
The Malaysia Today news portal editor hit the headlines a week ago when Umno-linked TV3 television station ran a series of interviews with him over his statutory declaration that linked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and family to the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2007.
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