The Citizens’ Declaration secretariat will respond on Monday to allegations by a freelance programmer who claimed he sold 900,000 names from his database to the group wanting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak out of office.
Secretariat secretary Kamaruddin Jaafar confirmed with Malaysiakini today that the group would only issue a statement on this on Monday.
“Ratu Naga has already denied this and declared she does not know the accuser. The secretariat does not know Ratu Naga either and she was never involved with us,” Kamaruddin told Malaysiakini.
He willl reveal more in the statement on Monday, he added.
The secretariat's issuance of a statement on Monday, was also separately confirmed by Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah (photo), its past chairperson and lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, and spokesperson for the NGO, Challenger, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
The secretariat had a meeting earlier today.
Syed Saddiq, who is part of the secretariat, said like the others, he is infuriated by the baseless allegation.
“It trivialises the work put in by thousands of Malaysians from all parts of society who helped us collect or spread the Save Malaysia message,” said the International Islamic University student.
Maria, when asked about it, said the official statement would be issued on Monday.
‘Allegation is insignificant’
When told that the allegation was a serious matter and the matter should be addressed immediately, Maria replied the secretariat does not think so.
“It is not necessary as it (the allegation) is insignificant to us,” she said, adding that Ratu Naga's police report was sufficient to counter this.
However, Ratu Naga (on the right in photo) did not lodge a police report and instead made an oath on the Quran that she does not know the programmer.
Yesterday, the freelance programmer, Azharuddin Othman, 30, made a statutory declaration stating that an individual by name of Ratu Naga contacted him on April 27 and promised him RM5,000 in return for 900,000 names from his database.
The database, Azharuddin said, was the same one that was made available to all political parties during the 13th general election and contained particulars such as full names and MyKad numbers.
However, the programmer, who comes from Terengganu, claimed that he only received RM1,000 of the RM5,000 promised.
However, Ratu Naga, whose real name is Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah, responded to Azharuddin's allegation in a Facebook posting yesterday, saying, “He's asking for it…"
"(He thinks) I will remain silent? No, let me fight back," she said, adding that she would like to meet Azharuddin and make him swear that he knew her.
