Khairy: I'm willing to be charged under 114A

Khairy Jamaluddin said that he is prepared to be charged under Section 114A of the Evidence Act in his capacity as Umno Youth chief following a religiously sensitive Facebook posting which used the political wing's name.

This comes after a challenge by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (left) who suggested that attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail should live up to his defence of the controversial law by charging Umno Youth for the posting.

"Desperado Guan Eng challenges attorney-general to charge Umno Youth for offensive Facebook posting which I have said is not our doing.

"I call on the attorney-general to go ahead and charge Umno Youth and me as its chief. Even with 114A, I am confident of proving we were not responsible," said Khairy in a series of Twitter postings this evening.

Under Section 114A which was introduced as an amendment to the Evidence Act in April, the law presumes a person or organisation whose name is carried together with any online publication as the author of that content.

If the person or organisation is not the author of the publication, it is up to the individual or organisation to prove their innocence. The same applies to network owners whose internet connectivity is used by others for illegal activities.

‘Umno Youth not responsible'

BN Youth had yesterday lodged a police report, dissociating itself from the Facebook page of "Pemuda Umno Malaysia" (Umno Youth Malaysia) and also disclaiming responsibility for a posting made by the page administrator deemed as religiously sensitive.

The posting in Malay read, "If you agree to making Christianity the official religion of the Federation of Malaysia, continue your support for Pakatan Rakyat."

"God bless you my son," it continued in English.

The administrator of the Facebook page whose identity remains unknown had defended the action with another Facebook posting which read: "Even though this is not a formal (Umno) Youth fan page, but the voices on this fan page is strong enough to carry the voice of the grassroots to the top".

The controversy comes a week after a widespread cyberspace campaign against Section 114A of the Evidence Act by Centre for Independent Journalism which claims that the law violated the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'.

On the same day of the campaign on Aug 14, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had announced a review of the amendment which was gazetted in July but was shot down by the cabinet which instead instructed the attorney-general to explain the law to the public.