The court remanded him to custody on Saturday for four days, in a closed-door hearing which police attempted to orchestrate without informing Nat's lawyers (from Elizabeth Wong). Nat has not actually been charged with a crime, but is being held for an investigation - even though the police have already seized his laptop and home computer, as well as CD-Roms and documents.
The current official line is that Nat is being held under section 8 of the Official Secrets Act. Disquiet has a thorough write-up of what the OSA is and how it relates to this case. The short version is that the OSA gives broad powers to public officials to declare something a 'state secret', and section 8 makes possession of such a state secret punishable by one to seven years in prison. Allegations are that Nat is in "possession of ’secret’ documents published on the internet, which alleged that deputy Minister for Internal Security, Johari Bahrum, was involved in the ‘fee-for freedom’ scandal." ((EW)
It seems Nat was initially informed by police that he was being held in regards to "a comment left on one of his blog posts, which put the link pointing to a website which reported on the deputy minister for Internal Security, Johari Bahrum, being involved in fee-for-freedom." Johari Bahrum was cleared, just days before Nat's arrest, in an investigation into allegations of corruption that had been posted to a website.
Lead counsel for Nat, Sivarasa Rasiah, also said that police seized documents and CDs that were related to his job as Secretary to the Chairman of the Foundation for the Future, Anwar Ibrahim.
Nat also works as the webmaster for the People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat, PKR). Tian Chua is a fellow blogger and PKR's chief of information who was recently investigated by the Multimedia and Communication Commission for "publishing a digitally manipulated photo of the deputy Prime Minister dining with a Mongolian murder victim and one of the accused." (A controversial case PKR has spoken out on)(bangkit.net).
It is obvious that Nat is being held without just cause or due process. My own understanding from reading other blogs on the case is that the possible ulterior motives here are, a desire by certain powers that be to scare bloggers and activists, and/or a desire to access Nat's computers to gain information on his employers at PKR and Foundation for the Future.
Bloggers are asking everyone who can to stand up and speak out for Nat. Malaysia is an ostensibly democratic nation that is looking more like a police state every day. Nat seems to be the first person to be arrested under the unconstitutional OSA act in relation to their blogging. There is now a petition to free Nat to sign.
Elizabeth Wong has also posted ways that people can help.
Let the police know Nat has a lot of friends, fellow bloggers and supporters who will not take kindly to their kind of rubbish.
Be proactive by calling them, sending them faxes and SMSs. It can be a short letter, or an SMS, like “Bebaskan Nathaniel Tan - Jgn buli blogger”, or “Free Nathaniel Tan - Polis jgn diperalatkan politikus”.
You should also contact them to ask them what time exactly will they release Nat on Saturday (think positive!), or where and when will Nat be taken for his remand hearing?
Whatever suits your mood. The point is to flood their phones, mail boxes and fax machines, and to let them know that we are watching their every move, even if they go take a leak.
Here are key people:-
1. DSP Victor - Investigating Officer - 016 3043 669
2. ACP Tn Kamaruddin - Cyber-Crime Division - 019 6000 135
3. Tan Sri Musa Hassan
Inspector-General of Police
Ibu Pejabat Polis Diraja Malaysia
Bukit Aman
50560 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03 2262 6222
Fax: 03 2273 9602
Email: rmp@rmp.gov.my
Here is a roundup of sites and blogs that are covering the situation:
Elizabeth Wong
KTemoc Konsiders
Disquiet
bangkit.net
Infernal Ramblings
Bobjots : redux
Suaram
The trials of Cheryl (Nat's sister)