A-G Apandi: No full text of Ali Tinju's speech, so case dropped

PETALING JAYA: The sedition charge against Malay Armed Forces Veteran Association president Mohd Ali Baharom (Ali Tinju) was dropped because "the evidence was not there," said Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali (pic).

Apandi said in order to prosecute, there must be a full text of the recording (of the speech) made by Ali Tinju.

"The full text of the recording, the video recording. To bring a case to court, you cannot just have 'oh, somebody recorded it'.

"You must record the statement of the one who recorded it. The actual recording in this case was not complete, only a few seconds, it wasn't enough. It wasn't the entire thing. What we have in the IP (investigation papers), we missed the 'seditious' part," Apandi told The Malaysian Insider in an interview.

Asked if he had told police to investigate further and "find the recording?" Apandi said police "couldn't find it."

"It wasn't forthcoming. I already told them, 'this is not enough. Go and find more.' They said they could not find. So that's the end," he said.

Asked if the police were to be blamed, he said:

"Don't put that word, dangerous! As far as I am concerned, I, as the public prosecutor, go through whatever is presented to me, which is from the IP.

"From the IP, I found that there is insufficient evidence. That makes things difficult. I don't look at this fellow as 'Ali Tinju', I don't even know him. But if there's not enough evidence, there's just not enough evidence."

Ali was acquitted and discharged by the Sessions Court of using seditious words during the riot in Low Yat Plaza in July.

The judge said the decision was made after the deputy public prosecutor withdrew the charge.

Ali was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948 and punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act, which carries a fine of up to RM5,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both, if found guilty.