Chegubard arrested over statement on Malaysia-Indonesia border conflict, police say

Political activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin was detained to assist investigations into his statement regarding the Malaysia-Indonesia border conflict, police said yesterday, denying that his arrest was linked to the "Save Malaysia" demonstration planned for Sept 16.

Bukit Aman Crime Investigation Department director Shuhaily Mohd Zain said Badrul, popularly known as Chegubard, had refused to cooperate with the police in their investigation.

Speaking to reporters at the Dang Wangi police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Shuhaily said Badrul was detained to aid investigations into the statement on border conflict, as well as a leader's property and the exposure of a major confidential document belonging to a government department on social media.

He also said that six police reports had been made, with five investigation papers opened regarding the case.

"The police called him up to offer his cooperation but he failed to present himself and, in fact, the police had issued him notices under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"Chegubard himself signed as the recipient of the notice but refused to come to the police station to record his statement without any valid reason," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Shuhaily said Badrul's failure to assist the police in the case was akin to challenging the law enforcement agency as well as the law of the country.

"It includes failing to come to the Kajang police headquarters this morning, which prompted the police to seek a warrant of arrest from the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court to detain him," he said.

Shuhaily also denied that Badrul was arrested in relation to tomorrow's demonstration.

"Once again, I wish to reiterate that the detention of Chegubard tonight had nothing to do with the proposed gathering on Saturday because he was not among those who applied for the gathering," he said.