Four men remanded in connection with UPSR leaks

PUTRAJAYA: Police have obtained a four-day remand order against four men including a school headmaster and two teachers to assist in investigations in connection with the leaks in the Science and English papers in this year's Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) examination.
Magistrate Nur Dahlia Azmi issued the remand order which begins today and ends on Thursday on the men who are aged between 30 and 50 years for investigations under Section 8 (1) of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972.
The headmaster and the teachers are from two different schools in Penang while the other man is an insurance agent.
Section 8 (1) of the OSA states that if any one person has in their possession or control any official secret or secret official code word, countersign or password and communicates directly or indirectly any such information to any person other than a person to whom he is duly authorised to communicate, he shall be guilty of an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than one year and not exceeding seven years.
The men were represented by lawyer Ester Tan Siew Choo who said that the police applied for a seven-day remand order but the magistrate granted an order for four days.
Following the leaks in the Science 018, 028 and 038 and English 014/1 and 014/2 papers last Thursday, almost half a million UPSR students have to retake the papers on Sept 30.
The fiasco sparked outrage among parents and students. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister had announced last Friday that the Examinations Syndicate director Dr Na'imah Ishak and its deputy director of operations Dr Wan Ilias Wan Salleh had been suspended with immediate effect pending investigations into the fiasco. – Bernama