Sabah flag incident: 'Sultan of North Borneo' ordered to enter defence
 LAHAD DATU, August 17, 2010: The self-proclaimed sixth sultan of North
Borneo, Datu Abdul Rajak Bin Datu Aliuddin, and 10 others were ordered to
enter their defence by a magistrate's court here recently for alleged
illegal assembly.
Magistrate Amir Shah Amir Hassan, who presided over the case, held that
the prosecution had established a prima facie case against all the accused
under alternative charge of Section 27(5) (a) of the Police Act, 1967, for
illegal assembly.
He, however, discharged all the accused under Section 143 of the Penal
Code for the same offence after prosecution failed to prove the accused
had committed the act.
The self-proclaimed sultan will also have to file his defence on the
charge of burning Sabah flags in a public area under Section 435 of the
Penal Code after the court admitted witness testimony that he gave the
order to burn the flags.
Three others jointly charged with him were given a discharge due to
weaknesses in the witnesses' testimony against them.
The magistrate set Sept 20 to 24 for the accused to enter their defence.
The 12 allegedly involved in the incident were: Datu Abdul Rajak Bin Datu
Aliuddin, his brothers Datu Abdul Pasaran Bin Datu Aliuddin and Datu Jul
Asri Bin Datu Aliuddin, nephew Datu Amiru Bin Datu Pelair, Datu Nizam
Asyikim Bin Abdul Wahab, follower Mohd Isa Sally Bin Panut, Mohammad Hafiz
Bin Jaffar, Hazrul Bin Jaffar, Mohiddin Bin Musidih, Jifri Nunui, Junior
Bin Oribello and Puleh Bin Karim.
They were all charged with illegal assembly and the burning of Sabah flags
in front of Milimewah shopping centre here at 9.27am on April 4, last
year.
The group was arrested and detained shortly after the incident outside the
district police headquarters here. One of them, Junior Bin Oribello, was
however deported to the Philippines, his country of origin, for not having
a valid travel document.
They are charged under Section 143 of the Penal Code with illegal
assembly, or alternative charge under Section 27(5) (a) of the Police Act,
1967.
If found guilty under Section 143, each of them will face imprisonment of
not more than six months, or fine, or both, while under Section 27(5)(a)
each of them will face a fine of not less than RM2,000 or not more than
RM10,000, or imprisonment of not more than a year.
Besides Datu Abdul Rajak, the other three -- Datu Abdul Pasaran, Datu Jus
Asri and Mohammad Hafiz -- were also accused of burning Sabah flags and
jointly charged under Section 435 of the Penal Code and faced seven years
jail if convicted of the offence.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Niat Andi Sanrang had called a dozen
witnesses in the hearing at the prosecution stage, which commenced on Jan
14 and will closed its case on Aug 6.
District Special Branch chief, ASP Osri Sarikul, with dozens of police
personnel were at the court premises to ensure a smooth hearing.
By Ivan
Ho |
