Will the police 'haul up' Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to have his statement recorded over the seditious article posted on his office's website?

Or will the police report on the matter be completely ignored in contrast to the swift action that followed the report filed by Umno against the Malaysia Today website?

These were questions posed by Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang following the disclosure that an "incendiary and seditious" article inciting racial animosity was posted on the Prime Minister's Office website .

In a statement, Lim recalled how Abdullah had over the weekend warned that bloggers were not immune from the law.

Will this warning apply to the prime minister as well? he asked in response to the police report filed against Abdullah by DAP central executive committee member Ronnie Liu yesterday.

"Although the seditious article has been removed, the fact remains that the seditious article had been publicly available on the Prime Minister's Office's website for over 20 months and a grave crime had been perpetrated," said Lim.

He then asked who should be held responsible for the seditious article.

"Is Abdullah strictly liable for seditious postings on the Prime Minister's Office website to the extent that he could be charged and tried for sedition?

"I am not suggesting that Abdullah be arrested, charged and tried although these would be the logical results if under the law there is the principle of strict liability for seditious materials posted on the official website of the Prime Minister's Office," he said.

"Apart from the prime minister, is there anybody else who should be held liable under the principle of strict liability which seems to have found favour with the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, cabinet ministers and Umno leaders who have made public statements in the current "blog war" between Umno and Malaysia Today .

"Or should there be different degrees of responsibility between articles posted by the webmaster and principal of the blogs and websites, and comments left by visitors with a mechanism allowing inflammatory and seditious comments to be removed when they are brought to the attention of the webmaster/principal so as not to dampen the robustness and vibrancy of Malaysian blogosphere?" he added.

'Double standards'

The police report against Malaysia Today filed by Umno information chief Muhammad Muhamad Taib last week accused the website of publishing remarks that were insulting to the King and Islam.

Following this, its webmaster Raja Petra Kamarudin was grilled by the police for eight hours.

However, certain quarters have accused the authorities of cracking down on Malaysia Today due to its numerous allegations of corruption against the country's top leaders.

Prior to this, PKR webmaster and blogger Nathaniel Tan was detained for four days over postings in his blog which were said to have breached the Official Secrets Act.

Yesterday, Liu said he lodged the report against the prime minister to show the 'double standards' in the action taken against certain bloggers.

The article posted on the Prime Minister's Office website under the pseudonym of Dr Ng Seng, claimed that the Chinese were conspiring to weaken the Malays politically and economically.

Written in Bahasa Malaysia, the article also claimed that the 1969 racial riots was a failed attempt by the Chinese to take over the country.

The article was posted in the condolence section that was created following the passing of Abdullah's first wife, Endon Mahmood in October 2005.

The article, which was posted on Nov 14, 2005 - about 20 months ago - was removed from the website yesterday, the same day the police report was filed.