Royal Malaysian Air Force pilot Major Zaidi Ahmad has been instructed to enter his defence on two out of seven charges of contravening a military law.

The two charges are contravening paragraphs 3 and 13 of the Armed Forces Council Order No 13, Year 1961.

Zaidi was charged with breaching paragraph 13 by making a media statement on indelible ink without getting prior approval from the Defence Ministry.

He was also charged with breaching paragraph 3 by showing official communications to media without prior approval from the Armed Forces Council.

The military court found that the prosecution failed to prove the one out of the seven charges beyond reasonable doubt.

The remaining four charges were dropped.

Presiding over the military court, Colonel Saadon Hasnan said that the six-member panel agreed with Zaidi's lawyer that the ink is not a subject to be investigated by the Malaysian Armed Forced (ATM) as it is an issue handled by the Election Commission (EC).
 
He, however, explained that the panel also agreed with the prosecution that Zaidi ( left ) had failed to get approval from the defence ministry when issuing a “government sensitive” statement regarding the indelible ink.
 
“The court orders the accused, Major Ahmad Zaidi to enter defence against the second and third charge,” Saadon said in his judgement.
 
Zaidi was accused of issuing a statement to the media without permission from the ministry, at the Kepala Batas police headquarter’s surau in Penang on May 1st last year.
 
He was also charged of leaking official information by texting to the media without approval from the AFC in Taman Bertam Indah on May 3rd of last year, also in Penang.
 
If convicted, Zaidi could face a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment or a lighter punishment which would include dismissal.
 
The court will reconvene on Nov 5 at 9am.