Nathaniel (Nat) Tan was taken by the Malaysian police on Friday the 13th July 2007 and later remanded for an investigation over an offence said to be committed under the Official Secrets Act.
However his lawyers say it’s politically motivated as the ‘document’ in question, available on the Net, exposes corruption involving a deputy Minister for Internal Security — who was later cleared by the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Attorney-General for lack of evidence and key witnesses — in an alleged ‘fee-for-freedom’ scandal.
July 17, Nat was released on police bail but he was ordered to report back to the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) in Kuala Lumpur, on July 31. In other words, Nat is still not out of the woods.
It’s still opaque as to the real reasons for Nat’s arrest.
One stark fact remains: The Police had gone for Nat, instead of going after the original perpetrator of the anonymous website that exposed the Minister!
Nat: Spirited away by UFOs… ended up in orange T-shirt, police cell
The UFOs here are to be taken to mean Unidentified Flippant Operatives.
In the free land of Malaysia, the whereabout of Nathaniel Tan, 27, could not be accounted for for almost six hours after he was spirit away by three plainclothes police officers around 4.45pm, July 13.
Within the span of time, there were reports that the policemen had asked that Nat bring his notebook computer with him before was taken away. The police had also earlier gone to Tan’s house to seize his desktop computer, Malaysiakini reported.
According to Malaysiakini which quoted witnesses, the policemen did not provide any reasons as to why Nat — I joined others by calling him Nat since December 2004 — was asked to go with them.
The witness said the policemen entered Nat’s office in Phileo Damansara and wanted him to follow them to the Bukit Aman police headquarters for questioning on “matters relating to certain postings on the Internet”.
Nat’s employers and lawyers were alerted, and police station hopping round was mounted to look for Nat, and to ensure his wellbeing as Nat’s health has not been good lately.
Lawyer Latheefa Koya (Lat) told malaysiakini that, according to a special branch officer known only as inspector William, there were no records of Nat being brought to Bukit Aman, Malaysia’s national police headquaters.
She said her team had also checked with Malaysian Control Centre (MCC), which is under the Bukit Aman. but to no avail. “Instead, they advised us to make a police report,” she said.
At 10pm, close to six hours after Nat’s disappearance, the police finally confirmed that he was indeed being held at Bukit Aman, according to an update on Malaysiakini.
Prison orange
However, by 11.25pm. Tan’s family members confirmed that Nat was actually being held at the Dang Wangi police station.
Nat was seen in the orange prison shirt. But he appeared in high spirit.
This is the latest update on Malaysiakini before the day’s final edition was put to sleep:
According to the police, Tan will be held for 24 hours by the Cyber Crime Unit in Jalan Dato Onn to facilitate investigation under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).Tan was later transferred to Kuala Lumpur’s Dang Wangi police station and is expected to be brought before a magistrate for further remand at 4.30pm tomorrow.
There was obvious disarray in the scheme of work to nab Nat, weaving from one law to another. Quote from Elizabeth Wong, a human rights advocate:
In the meantime, Lat had received information that the Investigating Officer is DSP Victor (016 304 4669). When she finally got through to him, we found out he had just gotten off the plane from Sydney. Victor said, they were investigating under the Penal Code.Lat then found out another fella from the Cyber-crime Division, Bukit Aman, ACP Tn Mohd Kamaruddin (019 6000 135), was in charge. At 10 pm, we were informed that they were holding him after all, and that he was being investigated under the Officials Secrets Act. [...]
The police at the (Dang Wangi police) station said, Section 420 of the Penal Code. Yep, another change.
Elizabeth also recorded that Nat was denied access to his legal counsel. Neither was he fed a single grain of rice since his arrest earlier in the day.
By midnight, former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim issued a statement, which I copied as follows:
Statement on the detention of
secretary to the President of the Foundation for the Future
July 13, 2007
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Today, Nathaniel Tan, who is my secretary as Chairman of the Foundation for the Future, was detained by three plain-clothes individuals. The officers did not identify themselves or their designation but merely mentioned that they were part of the Special Branch and requested Nathaniel to follow them and bring along his laptop.I strongly condemn the detention of Nathaniel by the Malaysian police. Nathaniel, 27, a graduate of Harvard and resident of Kuala Lumpur, has been actively involved in humanitarian and volunteer efforts in Aceh, Indonesia and Sierra Leone as well as with human rights groups in Malaysia.I want the Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan to take this matter to his immediate attention and confirm where and on what grounds is Nathaniel being detained. I request that his lawyers and family members obtain immediate access to Nathaniel to ensure his well-being and safety.ANWAR IBRAHIM
Chairman
Foundation for the Future
For those uninitiated, Anwar is world renowned for being the victim of the ‘Black Eye’ in police hands.
Whereas, Nat is a graduate from Harvard University, Massachusetts, in ‘Peace and Conflicts’, a unique field of study which he drew up with his academic supervisor. He brought me around Cambridge in Masachusetts when I last visited the JFK School of Government during the winter of 2004. That made one feel warmth in the cold.
It was only a day before when Nobel Peace Price laureate Kofi Annan reminded Malaysia, a small country that aspired to become a major global player, that it has to subscribe to the doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’.
They care for Malaysia.
Besides his official duty, Nat also blogs on jelas.info besides maintaining bangkit.net which he founded earlier.
Elizabeth, who was part of the team searching for Nat, has chronicled the ordeal in first-person account of what she called ‘incommunicado arrests’, and that all international human rights groups including the UN and World Organisation Against Torture had been alerted –here.
Another very young Malaysian whom I admire, John Lee, has provided a context to Nat’s arrest. It set me thinking and staying awake to blog this entry around 3.00am.
