Today we were all shocked by the news that Nathaniel Tan was detained by the police at 4.45 PM.
As I was on medical leave, I received a call from my office colleague, Sim, informing me of the matter and asking me to draft something for the boss. Then a flurry of calls and SMSes came in, asking me for details.
Three plainclothes policemen arrived at Nat’s office and asked him to follow them, and bring along his laptop ‘pasal Internet’. Enquiries made to Bukit Aman were worryingly negative – the police said there were no records of Nat being brought over to Bukit Aman.
Only six hours later did the police confirmed that they have Nat, and that he will be detained for 24 hours under the Cyber Crime Division for investigations on the OSA.
Unconfirmed reports point to a blog post he made regarding Datuk Johari Baharum, the Deputy Internal Security Minister as the culprit. Ironically, on Wednesday Nat blogged about the spat between Johari and Tan Sri Musa Hassan and how it allows real criminals to roam free. And now we have three plainclothes policemen and numerous others wasting taxpayers resources for a political investigation when so many criminal investigations remain unsolved.
I’ve read Nat’s blog for quite some time and got to know him better when he decided to join Keadilan. We’ve all learnt to appreciate his sense of humour and passion for politics, and despite being a Harvard grad with voluntary involvements in Sierra Leone and Acheh he remains a very humble person indeed. The picture above is of Nat when he came over to my BBQ with Li Tsin. I just had lunch with Nat on Thursday at Phileo, the site of his arrest.
My prayers are with Nat and his family.
Was going to email you, then read your post. Am spreading the word myself. Things must be pretty hairy there… really hope they free him soon.
appalling, absolutely appalling, going for a guy like nat, for something that shouldn’t even be a crime.
do keep us updated, and take care of yourself (what’s this about medical leave?)
wassalam.
July 14th, 2007 at 1:44 am[...] an example out of Nathanial for “those who dare to make a difference”. There is also some speculation that one of Nathanial’s post earlier this week (about an ongoing spat between the deputy [...]
July 14th, 2007 at 2:12 amNothing serious. Today Imaan and I are planning to go to the police station and see how things are.
July 14th, 2007 at 8:49 amWhat really happened actually? What was actually being done by Nat? How come some sources said Nat was detained for a doctored pic?
July 14th, 2007 at 10:20 amMy prayers are with Nat and family too! Free Nathaniel Tan!!!!
July 14th, 2007 at 12:47 pmJust now the KL Magistrate Court allowed Nat to be remanded for another 4 days on count of OSA for possessing documents accusing Dato Johari Baharom for corruption. Nothing to do with the Najib photo as insinuated by the Star or Sin Chew.
July 14th, 2007 at 4:18 pm[...] gibt Spekulationen, dass ein Post vom Anfang der Woche (über den andauernden Konflikt zwischen dem stellvertretenden [...]
July 14th, 2007 at 10:30 pmic. bygkan mainstream media pon buat silap..?
July 15th, 2007 at 12:40 pm[...] untuk kali ini aku tiada idea nak blogging pasal apa. Karang blogging lebih-lebih nanti kena seret pergi Bukit Aman [...]
July 16th, 2007 at 10:15 pm[...] is also some speculation that one of Nathanial’s post earlier this week (about an ongoing spat between the deputy internal [...]
July 17th, 2007 at 4:21 am[...] led to a few ceramahs in Penang, Perak and Pahang (but interestingly not Selangor!) Then, there was the arrest of my colleague Nathaniel Tan, supposedly for a comment on his blog. In November I was part of the tens of thousands of [...]
December 31st, 2007 at 8:03 pm