Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) director-general Datuk Ibrahim Yahya (pic) is baffled by the decision to lodge a police report against him.
Ibrahim, also known as Tiger, told The Malay Mail this morning that he had not accused anyone of threatening him.
"It was never my intention to defame anyone from the first day I started blogging," he said.
Ibrahim reiterated that he had never claimed that the 'threat' had come from someone claiming to be from Lim Guan Eng's office.
The former Berita Harian chief news editor was responding to the Penang Chief Minister's political secretary lodging a police report against him yesterday afternoon concerning his Dec 26 blog posting.
In the post, Ibrahim had posted a comment left to him by a reader who claimed to be working at Lim's office.
The reader had allegedly threatened to send him to prison for the rest of his natural life because of the comments he wrote about DAP in his blog.
It is believed that the threat came as a reaction to two recent postings, 'Kerana Mulut Badan Binasa', posted on Christmas Day about Guan Eng's claim that Teoh Beng Hock had been murdered, and, 'DAP Semakin Galak Serang Melayu', a day earlier.
"Someone had asked me to lodge a police report on this but I'll just leave it on my blog.
"I don't know who sent that comment. There's no reason for them to lodge a report against me if it isn't anyone from their office because I never made accusations as to where it originated from," he said.
"The blog is where I put up my views. Not everything I write is to attack certain groups. I am just sharing my opinions as to how we can make the country more peaceful and stable. Not many people read my blog as compared with a politician's."
The Malay Mail had reported that Lim's political secretary, Ng Wei Aik, had lodged police report on the matter at 12.30pm yesterday at the Jalan Patani police station in Penang.
In his police report, Ng wrote that the allegations made by Ibrahim were libelous and without basis.
The report further added that they were lies created to fan the flames of racial dissent.
Ng also said nobody from Lim's office could have planned any action against Ibrahim when they were not even aware of the postings Ibrahim had made on his blog.
Meanwhile Information Communication and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said today the Director-General of Broadcasting Datuk Ibrahim Yahya would not be left alone to face any legal action from the Penang state government.
He said the ministry would use its experience and all broadcasting justifications in defending anyone associated with the broadcasting body.
In fact, he said, he himself would scrutinise the details and points of argument should the officer be sued.
“We will not leave him to fend for himself,” he told reporters after the launch of the Creative Industry Fund, here.
Dr Rais said that based on the system of government, when a minister, secretary-general, director-general or a member of the administration is sued in his official capacity, the government would give appropriate advice and guidance, especially in the legal aspect.
However, he said, if the officers were sued for offences outside of their official capacity, the ministry would not be responsible.
“For example, if an individual is sued for khalwat (close proximity), we cannot interfere,” he added.
On Tuesday, the Penang government lodged a police report against Ibrahim for an alleged libellous entry entitled “Somebody Wants to Jail Me” on his blog, http://duniatiger.blogspot.com, recently.
Ng Wei Aik, the political secretary to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, had lodged the report
Police will not launch an investigation into the threat against Radio Television Malaysia's (RTM) director-general Datuk Ibrahim Yahya until the latter lodges a report on the matter.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan (pic) said this when asked if police would conduct a probe following a police report by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's political secretary, Ng Wei Aik, against Ibrahim on Tuesday.
It was made to compel Ibrahim to prove that someone from the Lim's office had threatened him with imprisonment over his blog postings.
"He (Ibrahim) is the victim and the threat has been laid on him. We will investigate if he lodges a report," said Musa at his office in Bukit Aman this morning.
Ng had, in an email sent to The Malay Mail, questioned how the Penang CM's office could have possibly planned any action against Ibrahim if they were not even aware of the two previous postings.
This was in response to the question whether an unnamed person from the CM's office had threatened Ibrahim with imprisonment for his postings on his blog, Dunia Tiger, in which he commented on DAP.
Ng wrote that the CM's office did not know about this until they were contacted by The Malay Mail.
Following the revelation, Ng wrote that he was instructed to lodge a police report on the matter at 12.30pm at the Jalan Patani police station.
In his police report, Ng wrote that the allegations made by Ibrahim were libelous and without basis, adding that they were lies created to fan the flames of racial dissent.
According to Ng, nobody in the CM's office are aware that Ibrahim had been issued such a threat.
Ng also wrote that Ibrahim should not be spreading lies and "portray himself to be a hero of the Malays who is willing to go as far as going to jail".
When asked why the CM's office is taking the stand to lodge a police report against a blogger when the component party of Pakatan Rakyat had always advocated freedom of speech, Ng's reply was: "We respect the right to blog and freedom of expression, but not the right to lie."
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