Opposition leader Tian Chua's doctored photograph linking Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak with key personalities in an on-going murder trial has "hurt" Umno Youth.

Its deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin lodged a complaint today with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), seeking "speedy action" against Chua who is PKR information chief.

"We as Umno Youth and citizens of Malaysia are hurt by Chua's actions," said Khairy, who was accompanied by Tangga Batu MP Idris Harun and Putera Umno chief Abdul Azeez Abd Rahim.

"It (the picture) was fake and unsubstantiated. (And) Chua has admitted this himself. We take it as something that was done in bad faith."

Speaking to reporters after an hour-long discussion with MCMC officials, he said Chua had insulted the Umno deputy president and also touched on the trial into the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

(Najib has close links with Abdul Razak Baginda, who is accused of abetting two Special Action Unit personnel in the crime. The unit provides security services to the nation's leaders.

(The photo purports to show Najib, Razak and Altantuya having dinner at a restaurant, but Chua ( right ) has since admitted that he doctored it to push Najib into explaining his link to the case, based on a claim made during the trial.)

Khairy claimed that Chua had crossed the limits of democracy but was quick to add that Umno Youth's complaint was not an attempt to stifle freedom of speech or to censor Internet content.

"We hope the investigation will be a test case for democracy. This is not restricting freedom of speech. This is the law. If not, we'll be in a situation with no control whatsoever," he said.

He said Umno Youth believes that Chua has breached Section 211 and 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which bars content considered "indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive".

Anyone who violates either section is liable to a maximum RM50,000 fine, jail term not exceeding a year, or both.

Met later, MCMC chairperson Dr Halim Shafie ( left ) said the matter is of public interest and that the commission would expedite investigations.

When asked if Chua had committed any offence when the woman in the picture is not Altantuya, Halim replied: "That will be the subject of our investigation."

Chua's response

In an immediate response to Khairy's report, Chua said that he would wait for MCMC to tell him if he had done anything illegal and stressed that the picture in question had never suggested that Najib had dinner with Altantuya.

"Is it the viewer's own impression or was (the link) being formed in the picture? People have to think - Why do they jump into such a conclusion (that the woman in the picture was Altantuya). Maybe they know more than me," he said

In another development, Khairy refused to be drawn into commenting on a digital composition posted on the Umno Youth website in 2005 which had offended the DAP.

"This has nothing to do with our report today. (They) did not lodge a report," he said.

The picture on the website ( right ), which was taken down days after it was posted, contained the super-imposed faces of opposition leaders on the cover of the book, ' Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History '.

This was the autobiography of the former Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general, who now lives in exile.

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