________________
Media Statement        
by Lim Kit Siang  
___________________

(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): The Prime Minister and Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must intervene to free Nathaniel Tan immediately to ensure that his administration does not start the slide down the slippery slope of repression to mark Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka anniversary – openly violating his pledges of an open, democratic, accountable and good governance when he was appointed to the highest office of the land 44 months ago.

The secretive circumstances in the first seven hours of arrest of Nathaniel Tan, an aide of Anwar Ibrahim and information bureau staff of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, where his friends, relatives and supporters had to go on a “wild goose chase” to locate his whereabouts with the police initially disclaiming knowledge and refusing to give information about his detention, is a scandal which speaks of a police which has yet to fully accept that the first principle of policing in a democratic system must be policing for the people and not policing to serve the government leaders of the day.

The irregular and illegal circumstances of Tan’s arrest, with the police spiriting him away for seven hours without proper accounting, raises the question as to the actual motives behind the police action.

Is Tan’s arrest the beginning of a clampdown on dissent and criticism particularly in the blogosphere?

Had Tan become a pawn in a trade-off among the powers-that-be in the political and police establishments to close ranks and protect their vested interests in the face of more and more specific and detailed allegations and increasing expose in the public domain of corruption, malpractices and abuses of power involving both the top political and police establishments?

Free Nat Now. Abdullah should be aware that the whole world is watching Malaysia. If the Prime Minister does not want the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations to start off infamously, he should act and restrain police abuses by freeing Tan immediately.
 

(14/7/2007)