Royal Malaysian Air Force Major Zaidi Ahmad's only crime is his courage when he publicly spoke out on problems with the electoral process, said defence lawyer Hanipa Maidin.

 

"His only crime is being courageous. He should not be taken action against, he should be given a medal instead," Hanipa told a military court today in his final submission.

 

Zaidi in the last general election revealed that the Election Commission's (EC) indelible ink used on his finger during the polls process could be washed off.

 

He was subsequently court marshalled on seven charges for disobedience under Section 51 of the Armed Forces Act 1972.

Among the charges include making statement to the media without the Defence Ministry's authorisation and use of military channels

Hanipa ( right ) argued that the prosecution failed to produce clear evidence to support the charges.

He said Zaidi had only made the media statement in his capacity as a registered voter and therefore did not violate military law.

'Military has no power to investigate'

"The indelible ink is not supplied by the military and it does not have power to investigate because the election and the ink are under the Election Commission," Hanipa told the court hearing at the Sungai Besi Royal Malaysian Air Force base today.

Three of the five charges Zaidi is facing are making public statements without authorisation, leaking official information to the media and using military channels without approval.

The other more charges, for which he has yet to be tried, concern text messages sent out by Zaidi, which are said to contain political undertones.

Meanwhile, the prosecution, led by Major Ahmad Azam Soip, only made its winding up arguments on the first three charges.

Ahmad said the prosecution will leave the fourth and fifth charges, which concern unauthorised used of Armed Forces channels, to the courts to decide.

After the winding up arguments, presiding judge Colonel Saadon Hasnan said the court will anounce whether there is a primae facie case against Zaidi at 2pm next Monday.