Myth of Guan Eng's imprisonment debunked & its not because he defended a Malay Girl

Found a superb piece of reporting by Blogger Helen Ang about Lim Guan Eng and why he was sent to jail many years back, this excellent write would finally lay to rest the myth about the DAP Tokong going to jail for defending a Malay Girl from something, I don't know what something as  the myth only ended at the part where Guan Eng supposedly defended the Malay girl. 

Read excerpt from Blogger Helen's blog here:

Lim Guan Eng was sent to jail because the court found him guilty of promoting hatred. 

In a High Court decision delivered on 28 April 1997, Guan Eng was found guilty under Section 4(1) (b) of the Sedition Act.

He was also found guilty under Section 8A of the Printing Presses and Publications Act for maliciously publishing false news.

The Court of Appeal found that the pamphlets printed by Guan Eng had “the effect of bringing the administration of justice into hatred and contempt” and that his allegations amounted to “denigrating and undermining the administration of criminal justice” — both offences which are deemed seditious under Malaysian law.

The Court of Appeal upheld both the High Court convictions.

It also revised Guan Eng’s punishment to 18 months’ jail on each charge and ordered that the two sentences run concurrently. The Court of Appeal coram comprised Justices Gopal Sri Ram, Siti Norma Yaakob and Denis J.F. Ong.

The same court also affirmed that “the [High Court] trial judge was entirely correct in holding that the ingredients of each offence had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt”.

For breaking the law, Guan Eng was sent to Kajang Prison on 25 Aug 1998 and released a year later after his concurrent 18-month sentences were commuted.

The 12,000-word judgement by can be read at law journal website, here.

Read in full here.

I guess if not for his daddy, DAP owner Kit Siang, I do not think an arrogant ex-con would ever became a Chief Minister of a State in Malaysia, makes one wonder why many Dapsters are still thinking that Chinese are second class citizens in blessed Malaysia. Sigh.