Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim has condemned the detention of Nathaniel Tan who serves as his secretary at the international NGO Foundation for the Future.

"I want the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan to take this matter to his immediate attention and confirm the grounds of detention," said Anwar in an statement last night.

Anwar, who is PKR de facto leader, added that the police must ensure that family members and lawyers were given access to Tan, who is also PKR webmaster.

Tan, 26, was detained yesterday afternoon for 'questioning' but it was later confirmed that he was arrested and presently being investigated under Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act 1972 for "wrongful communication, etc. of official secrets".

He was remanded today for four days. Police officials are tightlipped about the grounds for his arrests but he is believed to be detained in connection with an anonymous posting on his blog.

The posting included three paragraphs lifted from the anonymous website which implicated Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom for corruption. Johari was recently cleared of any wrongdoings by the Anti-Corruption Agency.

Tan's lawyers and family members have criticised the police for not informing them about his whereabouts. Tan's lawyers were also not informed that he was brought to court today for remand proceedings.

Net clampdown?

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang also criticised the police for "irregular" circumstances of Tan's arrest.

"The secretive circumstances in the first seven hours of Tan's arrest... where his friends and relatives had to go on a 'wild goose chase' to locate his whereabouts, with the police initially disclaiming knowledge and refusing to give information about his detention.

"(This) is a scandal which speaks of a police which has yet to fully accept that the first principle of policing in a democratic system must be policing for the people and not policing to serve the government leaders of the day," he said in a statement today.

Lim also warned that Tan's arrest may be the beginning of a clampdown on Internet freedom.

"Had Tan become a pawn in a trade-off among the powers-that-be in the police and police establishments to close ranks and protect their vested interests in the face of more and more specific and detailed allegations and increasing expose in the public domain of corruption malpractices and abuses of power involving both the top political and police establishments?" asked Lim.

Rights violated

In a separate statement, human rights watchdog Suaram said that Tan's rights under the Federal Constitution were violated.

"Under Article 5(3), it is the duty of the police to tell the (detainee) the grounds of arrest as soon as possible and allow Tan to consult his lawyer,

"In the case of Tan, he was not told of the ground of arrest but was taken away on the pretext of investigations and the lawyers were not informed of his arrests,

"Was the police trying to avoid informing the detainee of the ground of arrest by not making it clear to Tan that it was in fact an arrest?" asked Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng.

Yap also reminded the police that the Royal Police Commission in 2005 said that the police must do away with the "arrest first and investigate later" procedures which would affect the personal liberty of a person.