PUTRAJAYA: A HEADMASTER from a primary school in Penang and three others were remanded yesterday for four days by the magistrate’s court here in connection with the leak of Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) Science and English examination papers.
The three others are two teachers from different primary schools in Penang and an insurance agent from Kuala Lumpur.
All of them, aged between 30 and 50, were produced before magistrate Nur Dahlia Azmi and remanded until next Thursday.
The suspects are being investigated under Section 8 (1) of the Official Secrets Act 1972 for possession of official secrets and communicating such information to others.
The four men were among six people arrested on Sunday to help in the UPSR leak investigation.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Gan Kong Meng said police arrested another suspect, a 34-year-old engineer, in Kemaman, Terengganu yesterday in connection with the case.
“He was arrested at 1pm and will be remanded (today) in Putrajaya to facilitate investigations into the leakage.”
Gan said police had not ruled out the possibility of making more arrests in connection with case.
“As the investigation goes on, there is a possibility of more arrests,” he told the New Straits Times.
With the arrest of the engineer yesterday, police have apprehended seven people in connection with the case so far.
Gan said of the seven, six people, including the headmaster and four teachers, were arrested on Sunday in Penang, Parit Buntar, Perak and Kuala Ketil, Kedah.
The other suspect, the insurance agent, 31, was also arrested on Sunday in Sentul.
The two teachers from Parit Buntar and Kuala Ketil, however, were released after their statements were recorded on the same day.
Apart from the seven arrests, police have also questioned six Malaysian Examination Board (MEB) officers and a journalist.
The leak, which triggered outrage from parents, forced 473,175 pupils from 8,384 schools nationwide to re-sit the papers on Sept 30.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said they were investigating the case under Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act 1972. Under the act, anyone found leaking the document can be jailed for not less than one year and up to seven years.
Last Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, had announced that MEB director Dr Na’imah Ishak and deputy director (operations) Dr Wan Ilias Wan Salleh had been suspended with immediate effect until investigations were concluded.
Muhyiddin had also issued an apology to the pupils and their parents over the fiasco.
He announced that the ministry would set up an independent committee to review the MEB’s standard operating procedure (SOP) when preparing and distributing examination papers, as the leak had warranted a review of the SOP.