That Tian Chua is still walking free despite his many altercations with authorities, arrests, and charges against him is clear proof that his inclination for mischief has prevented him from learning from past mistakes. It also shows how despite the many unfair accusations that the Malaysian government practises selective detention, mischievous troublemakers such as Tian Chua can still be walking around creating more problems in the name of democracy.
Here is Tian Chua’s Record of Mischief:
1. In 1985, while studying in Australia, Tian Chua and other students protested against the imposition of university fees on foreign students in Australia, started by Bob Hawke's administration. He was arrested and locked up after a demonstration in Sydney.
2. By then, the East Timor then leader-in-exile, currently President Ramos Horta recruited Tian Chua to help prepare newsletters for their cause.
3. In 1999, Tian Chua shot to fame photographs of him sitting defiantly in front of a police water cannon truck were splashed across the global media during the height of the Reformasi movement in Malaysia following the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Prime Minister.
4. By late September 1999, Tian Chua and six other activists, including Keadilan leaders; Youth leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Mohamed Azmin Ali and Dr Badrul Amin Baharun; were arrested and as a result prevented from contesting in the 1999 general elections.
5. On 10 April 2001, others were arrested and subsequently charged and incarcerated under the Internal Security Act. They became known as the Reformasi 10.
6. Tian Chua spent two years as a political prisoner. He was held in solitary confinement, and later locked in a small windowless cell in the basement with 24-hour artificial lighting.
7. In 2009, Tian Chua took the lead role in a science fiction short film titled One Future, which depicted Malaysia as an Orwellian dystopia. The character's fate at the hands of the authorities in the film mirrors aspects of Tian Chua's own public life.
8. On October 22 2009, Tian Chua was convicted by Magistrate Mohd Faizi Che Abu to 6 months' jail and a fine of RM3,000 but granted him a stay of execution pending his appeal to the High Court.
9. ON June 17, 2010m the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Tian Chua's appeal against his conviction of biting a policeman but set aside the 6-month imprisonment sentence and reduced the fine from RM3,000 to RM2,000 in order to avoid a by-election for the Batu parliamentary seat.
10. On May 23, 2011, Tian Chua's appeal against a conviction for biting a policeman was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on technical grounds. A three-man panel led by Court of Appeal judge Zaleha Zahari unanimously ruled that Chua's appeal was incompetent because he had filed the notice outside of the period required under the law.
11. On April 7 2013, Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Tian Chua was deported back to Peninsular Malaysia on Sunday, after he was detained by immigration officers in Sabah.
12. On May 29, 2013, five men were today charged under the Sedition Act 1948 with uttering words that have the tendency to call on Malaysians to change the government by unlawful means.
All four — politicians Tamrin Ghafar and Chua Tian Chang along with activists Haris Ibrahim and Muhammad Safwan Anang — pleaded not guilty when the charges under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Sedition Act were jointly read out to them in the Sessions Court here. If convicted under the same section, the four will be liable for a fine of up to RM5,000 and a jail term of up to three years, which could possibly see elected representative Chua losing his Batu parliamentary seat.
13. On June 30 2011, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said Tian Chua would remain as Batu Member of Parliament as he will follow a court judgement that wanted to avoid a by-election in the federal seat. According to paragraph 42 of the written judgement, judge Datuk Ghazali Cha had said that the fine of RM2,000 would not cause Chua to lose his seat as he only considers a fine of RM2,001 and above to trigger the clause in the Constitution.
14. Chua had been arrested for failing to leave the restricted area at the Malaysian Police Training Area (Pulapol) despite being ordered to do so in the hours after the Bersih rally for electoral reforms on April 28, 2012. On April 29, 2012, police officer DSP A. Rajakopal had at around 2.30am given the orders to leave Pulapol, which is listed as a protected area according to the Protected Areas Order (No. 2) 1975.
15. On May 15 2012, Chua was charged under Section 4 (2) of the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959 after he allegedly disobeyed police orders by refusing to leave Pulapol after his release. He was arrested with 512 rally-goers after the Bersih 3.0 rally for electoral reform in the national capital here ended. The offence is punishable by a jail term of up t o two years, a fine of no more than RM1,000, or both.
16. On March 14 2013, Tian Chua was charged in court over comments he allegedly made pertaining to UMNO's supposed involvement in the Lahad Datu crisis.
17. On May 23 2013, Tian Chua was charged under the Sedition Act, together with MCLM President Haris Ibrahim, former UMNO member Tamrin Abdul Ghafar, and activist Safwan Anag, for allegedly uttering words that had the tendency to call on Malaysians to change the government by unlawful means during a May 13 forum at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur.
18. On November 30, 2013, the sedition charge against Batu Member of Parliament Tian Chua over his alleged statement on the Lahad Datu intrusion, stands when 50-year-old Tian Chua lost his appeal yesterday, to strike out the charge. Tian Chua was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948 and punishable under Section 4(1) of the same act which carries a fine of RM5,000 or three years’ jail or both for a first-time offence, and five years’ jail for a subsequent offence if found guilty.
19. On January 21, 2014, UMNO dropped its defamation suit against Tian Chua (pic) who had allegedly linked the party to the Lahad Datu intrusion by Sulu terrorists last year. This follows an out-of-court settlement today by both parties where a consent judgement was recorded in chambers before judicial commissioner Rosilah Yop. PKR vice-president Tian Chua, whose real name is Chua Tian Chang, expressed regret over the article and said the report would be removed from Keadilan Daily.com as soon as possible.
20. On January 23rd 2014, PKR MP Chua Tian Chang was sentenced to a month's jail by the Sessions Court here today for trespassing into a restricted police zone following the Bersih rally in 2012.
But the lawmaker popularly known as Tian Chua secured a stay of execution from judge Mahmud Abdullah pending appeal of the conviction, news portal Malaysiakini reported.
21. On February16, 2014, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice president, Tian Chua vehemently denied allegations made in an article published by The Star alleging its top leaders of preparing a letter of resignation for the Menteri Besar of Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. “This allegation is false, is nothing but utter lies and a smokescreen.
22. On February 18th, PKR vice-president Tian Chua (pic) and two activists today failed to strike out sedition charges against them in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. They will be facing trial in the Sessions Court after justice Azman Husin ruled that the application by Tian Chua, Hishamuddin Rais and Adam Adli to strike out the charges was "not merited" and "premature".
This is merely a random list and non-exhaustive but enough to show Tian Chua’s ‘track record’. Who can forget his hopelessly Photoshopped photograph of Altantuya, the PM and Razak Baginda in his lame attempt to implicate our PM? It shows how Tian Chua will stoop to anything to achieve his aims.
Life teaches us many lessons. Some people learn and grow. Others refuse to learn and pretend they know everything.
Will the rakyat continue to believe the lies of Tian Chua and his ilk?
Written by Datuk Huan Cheng Guan
President, Centre for Political Awareness
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