THE Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) has urged police to release their Penang coordinator K. Sudhagaran Stanley, who was picked up last night for his Facebook posting on the defaced murals in Shah Alam, Selangor.

In a statement today, C4 said they are shocked to learn that Sudhagaran was arrested for posting comments on his personal Facebook page.

He was arrested last night about 10pm at his hometown, Penang, and is now detained at the Timur Laut district police headquarters.

C4 said police could have issued a notice requesting him to be present at the police station to have his statement recorded instead of arresting him at night.

“The arrest, especially at late hours of the night, is chilling and clearly aimed at instilling fear and silencing voices that are critical of the administration of this country.

“While the comments on his Facebook page are entirely his own personal opinion on public interest issues, we remain extremely disturbed at the fast swallowing space to express, opine and disagree with the powers that be of this Perikatan Nasional government,” the statement read.

C4 said Sudhagaran’s lawyer had informed them that he is being investigated under section 4(1) of the Sedition Act, Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

The group said the heightened police investigations on human rights and anti-corruption advocates for expressing dissent in relation to matters concerning public interest has become a cause of great concern.

“While the government has a right to disagree and object to many such comments, it would place itself in higher stead if it embraces the importance of critical thinking while balancing and safeguarding the right to freedom of expression and promoting a robust civil society,” it said.

Police, meanwhile, said yesterday that they were trying to identify two people, believed to be women, from CCTV footage of vandalism on murals of national leaders in Taman Cahaya Alam, Section U12, Shah Alam.

Obscenities were daubed on the murals in red paint and the defacement was noticed by a passer-by yesterday morning.

The portraits are of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. – July 21, 2020.