Sarajun Hoda Abdul Hassan, 65, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read before judge Noraida Sulaiman under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

According to the charge sheet, Sarajun was accused of transmitting offensive communications on Islam, with the intention of offending others, on his Facebook page between 9am and 12.52pm on April 26.

He was alleged to have recommended that Islam be removed as the official religion of Malaysia, that the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) be closed and that Islamic religious elements in government administrations and schools be removed.

The offence carries a fine of not more than RM50,000 or imprisonment of not more than one year or both, upon conviction.

The prosecution asked the court to set bail of RM10,000 for Sarajun Hoda, who is also a retired crane driver. However, the defence pleaded for a smaller amount, saying the accused had fully cooperated by appearing in court.

Noraida allowed bail of RM8,000 in one surety and ordered Sarajun Hoda to surrender his passport to the court and report to the nearest police station on the first day of each month until the disposal of the case

The course also fixed Oct 7 for re-mention of the case.

Harian Metro reported that the prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor, Sariza Ismail, while Sarajun Hoda was represented by lawyers Gurdial Singh Nijar, Abraham Au and Manjit Singh Saini.