KUALA LUMPUR: The editor of the book that allegedly insulted Malaysia's coat of arms has been remanded by the police.
Kean Wong, who has been under investigation since 2020 over the book "Rebirth, Reformasi, Resistance and Hope", was arrested by police at Kelana Jaya while he was renewing his passport at the Immigration office there on Monday (Oct 16).
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His lawyer Ivan Teng said a one-day remand order was granted at around noon on Tuesday (Oct 17).
"Police are optimistic that they can complete their investigations within a day.
"The investigating officer told us that Wong could be released by today (Oct 17) evening," he said when met outside the Dang Wangi police headquarters on Tuesday.
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Teng said that according to the remand order, police could hold him until around noon on Wednesday.
"The police requested for the remand order on three grounds; to record a statement, data collection from his phones to retrieve messages from three years ago as well as to get his fingerprints and photographs.
"Realistically, these things can be done within two to three hours and that is being generous," he said.
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"They have told us to standby money to post bail in the event that he is released today," Teng said.
He said they were now waiting for investigators from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
"We were told that MCMC was called for the data collection process as well as to obtain his usernames and relevant passwords," he said.
He said Wong was in good spirits considering the situation he was currently in.
In June 2020, the book came under fire due to its cover which allegedly insulted the Malaysian coat of arms.
Many internet users have also called for action as the cover of the book allegedly insulted the Constitution and the Rukun Negara.
Bukit Aman CID's Special Investigation Unit was reported to have seized more than 300 copies of the book, which was also banned by the Home Ministry on July 1, 2020.
