File picture shows Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali speaking to reporters at the Asean Senior Law Officials Meeting in Putrajaya May 15, 2017. — Bernama pic

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 31 — Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said he will institute legal action against Raja Petra Kamarudin if the blogger refuses to apologise over an article on alleged corruption.

However, he said that was not giving any specific time frame for the latter to apologise but it should not be too long following messages and signals sent through the media to Raja Petra Kamarudin to apologise.

“If there is no apology from him, I will definitely sue him. How can he smear my name? I don’t even know him. It is my reputation,” he told a press conference at the Attorney-General’s Cambers here today.

Earlier, he had presented cash contributions to family members of 23 fire victims who perished in the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah fire in the federal capital on Sept 14.

On Oct 22, Apandi had lodged a police report against Raja Petra Kamarudin for criminal defamation.

Raja Petra had posted two articles which alleged Mohamed Apandi was involved in an act of corruption. The two articles titled ‘Strong Rumours Surrounding the AG: Part 1 and Part 2’ were published in his (Raja Petra’s) Malaysia Today blog on Oct 20 and 21.

On another matter, Apandi said amendments to Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 would be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat soon.

When asked when the new act come into effect, he said: “Very soon.”

He explained that he had briefed the Cabinet on the amendments following judges voicing that they were forced to pass the death sentence on the accused persons as no other sentences were available.

‘I talked to the government to make the law more flexible. It will allow the judges to impose appropriate penalty based on their discretion.

“We are formulating the law to allow discretion by judges. We will want to identify who deserve hanging and who don’t .

“There are drug mules, they are innocent when they carry for money. They didn’t know what they are carrying, then they may come into the category of those that will not be given the death penalty while the drug trafficker deserves the death penalty,” he said. — Bernama