Penarik Beca webmaster Abu Bakar Mohd Rashid has expressed regret for lampooning the Royal Malaysian Police logo in his blog.

However, the blogger insists that he will continue to express himself in his writings even if they incur the wrath of certain quarters.

abu bakar mohd rashid penarik beca 0808081 Abu Bakar - also known as Bakaq Haq - who was detained at the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters for two days following a posting last Wednesday in which he inserted the head of a dog in the police crest.

He apologised for his action and conceded he might have upset "the good cops".

"This is life. In life there are the good guys and there are the bad guys. My action was targeted at the bad guys but I am sorry for upsetting the entire police force," he told Malaysiakini today.

"But I would like to stress that I am only apologising and expressing regret for the crest. I will not retract anything I have written in my posting," he added.

The blogger said he was being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act, which deals with the act of publishing materials which are seditious in nature.

He posted a RM10,000 bail and has been asked to report back to Bukit Aman at 10.30am on Aug 20. The blogger also revealed that he would be going to Bukit Aman tomorrow for more questioning.

"Originally, I was to be remanded for five days. But the magistrate that presided over my case was lenient and ordered that I be remanded for only two days as I promised that I would give full cooperation to the police," said Abu Bakar.

Fellow bloggers and media activists have condemned Abu Bakar’s arrest, saying it was an attempt by the authorities to quell dissent.

Bloggers slam 'worrying trend'

Ahirudin Attan of Rocky’s Bru in his capacity as the interim president of the National Alliance of Bloggers in a statement said the arrest "indicates a worrying trend of the government's lack of commitment to open public discourse."

Another statement by the Centre for Independent Journalism also blasted the fact that Abu Bakar was charged with the Sedition Act, a law the centre claims has been used too often to crush critics of the state.

"Seen from the frequency with which the Sedition Act is being invoked against bloggers, this law is clearly the preferred instrument to punish and harass bloggers who are being critical against the state institutions and personalities."

Abu Bakar is not the first blogger to have been arrested for his postings.

Malaysia Today webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin and another prominent blogger Nathaniel Tan have both had run ins with the law over postings on their blogs.