Home Minister signed order to detain Raja Petra at Kamunting, court told

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 23, 2008): Blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin's application seeking release from detention under section 73 (1) of the Internal Security Act (ISA) is academic because the home minister has signed an order to detain him under section 8 (1), the High Court here heard today.

Senior Federal Counsel Abdul Wahab Mohamad said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Albar signed the order yesterday to detain Raja Petra at the Kamunting detention camp for two years.

In his preliminary objection, he said that with the fresh detention order under Section 8(1) becoming operative, Raja Petra's detention was no longer under the purview of the Inspector-General of Police as stated in the notice of motion filed on Sept 16.

"We submit that any issues that transpired before the issuance of the detention cannot be subject to judicial inquiry," he said.

The main issue of the applicant had become purely academic, he said, urging the court to dismiss the application.

Raja Petra was arrested on Sept 12 and filed a habeas corpus application seeking his release from ISA detention on the grounds that the detention was unlawful and contravened the Federal Constitution. He named the Inspector-Genral of police and the Kamunting Detention Camp as respondents.

Section 73(1) allows a person to be held for up to 60 days without trial for the police to investigate and make their recommendations to the minister.

Raja Petra's counsel, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, said he was just informed about his client's detention under the minister's order.

"Our application definitely has bearing and definitely afects his (Raja Petra) liberty provided under the Federal Constitution," he said.

He said that even though he would file an application to challenge the minister's order, he wanted the court to hear the habeas corpus application since it still involved "life issues".

Justice Suraya Othman said that since the application had been overtaken by events, she fixed Oct 28 for both parties to make further submissions before the court decided whether to hear further on the matter.

On the habeas corpus application by Seputeh Member of Parliament Teresa Kok Suh Sim, who was detained under the ISA on the same day but has since been released, Suraya said the court could not be give any remedy since the matter too had been overtaken by events.

Kok's counsel, Karpal Singh, said that even though he was not asking the court to make any ruling, it should make some comment and go on public record on this detention issue to ensure that the authorities did not continue to abuse the Act.

Suraya said the court was bound by the Federal Court's ruling that the court could not make any comment since the matter had become academic and the applicant had other remedies like civil action.

Kok was freed last Friday.

- BERNAMA