IGP granted leave to initiate committal proceedings against Papagomo again

New Straits Times

09-05-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today granted Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain leave to initiate committal proceedings for a second time against blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris over his allegedly "insincere" apology.
Judicial Commissioner Gan Techiong granted the leave after hearing submissions on Razarudin's application to initiate committal proceedings against Wan Azr i, also known as Papagomo, for breaching the terms of the apology previously ordered by the High Court.
Earlier, the court was told that Wan Azri's apology to Razarudin was described as insincere and a joke.
Razarudin's lawyer, Raam Kumar, said Azri had uploaded the apology to his social media accounts on 30 April, using Maafkan Kami, a song by the late Tan Sri P.Ramlee from the classic film Pendekar Bujang Lapok, as background music.
"The apology is a joke. Why do we say this? This is a court order. There must be solemnity. You must be serious.
"The apology was not re-read, not in still (image) and not done in good faith.
"There is no solemnity at all. This is a court matter, not some joke where you play music.
"The unconditional apology is not sincere and he had not purged his contempt," Raam said.
Raam also said Wan Azri had also committed contempt of court by uploading
videos on his YouTube and TikTok accounts explaining his apology in court.
"The apology is unconditional, which means the defendant (Wan Azri) cannot make excuses for his apology.
"He is supposed to apologise with no conditions attached and he should just keep quiet. Rather than that, he published the videos.
"He had said he did not apologise to the IGP, but to the court. He is not acknowledging at all that he has an issue with the IGP, but he is fighting with the court.
"In other words, he is not acknowledging at all his contemptuous action against the plaintiff (Razarudin).
"He had also said he apologised because he did not want to be jailed. But nowhere in our affidavit or submission we askedfor him to be jailed in Sungai Buloh Prison.
"It is mere insertion as we asked only for committal. The issue of the plaintiff wanting to send him to prison did not arise. This is a made up story," he said.
Lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said they had sent a letter to Raam's firm, stating that they published the apologies on YouTube, TikTok, X and Telegram; and had removed the Jan 14 and 15 defamatory statements.
"The court should take judicial notice that not only was the apology tendered in open court, not only was the apology put up in social media and remaining now, it has been vastly reported by the mainstream media, which confirmed Wan Azri apologised to the IGP," he said.
Gan had also questioned Azri's action, saying that the matter should have been over when the first committal proceedings ended.
"Why did he not let the matter rest? Why did he publish that video, which is quite negative?" he said.
After hearing the submissions, Gan said, "I am of the mind to grant leave for this application."
The court set 30 June for the inter partes hearing.