PKR supreme council member Badrul Hisham Shahrin was detained by police while attending a function at the party's liaison office in Jalan Rahang in Seremban late last night.

badrul hisham shaharin altantuya police questioning 290509 03 Negeri Sembilan PKR secretary Sabaruddin Mohd Yassin said Badrul Hisham, more popularly known as Chegubard, was reported to have been called out of the meeting he was attending at 9pm by about 15 police officers and taken away for questioning.   

Badrul Hisham was released on police bail later in the night.

It is believed that the police investigation involved a number of postings by Badrul Hisham in his blog .

According to the police, Badrul Hisham was questioned on blog postings relating to seditious remarks involving the king and the royal institution.

The police also conducted a search of his house in Seremban.

"I'm not sure what they were looking for, but they did not take anything. They however took a few photos of my work area," he told Malaysiakini .

Just returned from Jakarta

He said that the police asked him very general questions about his involvement in politics and his personal life.

"They asked me questions like when I started my blog, which NGOs and activist groups I joined, and how many houses I own, but never on the specific blog postings which I have written," he said.

Badrul Hisham reckoned that the police arrested him because he had just come back from Jakarta, where he went on a public forum circuit discussing the grisly murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He added that the Rembau Umno Youth did lodge a police report against him last month over his open letter to the king calling for a system to strengthen the institution of Malay rulers, which they claimed to be seditious.

However, Badrul Hisham was puzzled that the police was only acting on it now.

"Even then, the police did not ask me about that posting. If the police really wanted to act on a police report made a month ago, why arrest me last night?

“They could have just called me and I would be more than willing to go to the police station and give my statements," he said, adding that he was not shown the police report made against him.

Police chief: Chegubard cooperative

Meanwhile at a press conference in Tampin this morning, Negri Sembilan police chief Osman Salleh said that Badrul Hisham was released at 11.30pm after being questioned for "two to three hours".

"He was arrested because the police had received complaints from the public that he had allegedly posted seditious remarks on the king and the royal institution," he said.

Osman added that Badrul Hisham was cooperative when giving his statements, and that the police will continue to investigate the claims.

Badrul Hisham contested the Rembau parliamentary seat in the 2008 general elections but lost to Khairy Jamaluddin, now Umno Youth chief.