State Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Dev Kumar told FMT that Abdul Hakim Bujang, who ran Sarawak Update, turned himself in at the One-stop Centre, IPD Kuching.

The 45-year-old was arrested and his handphone seized.

The case is being investigated under both the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act.

It is understood the offending comments were made following news of a proposal by Sarawak PKR women’s wing that State Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Fatimah Abdullah should be appointed deputy chief minister.

Yesterday, at about 5.40 pm, a police report was filed against the Facebook page Sarawak Update for posting something that appeared to be insulting a Sarawak minister and containing a racial slur against a particular race.

Sarawak police then requested the person running Sarawak Update to come forward.

Today, before the editor turned himself in, Sarawak Update said in a local dialect, translated into English here: “I apologise for all the controversy regarding an earlier post as I am myself a Melanau, but was affected by the actions of an individual who had gone under a name of another race whereas the individual was of another ethnic group.”

(In the local dialect what the post said was, “Saya mohon maaf atas segala kontroversi merujuk posting awal kerana saya sendiri Melanau tetapi terkesan dengan tindakan individu yang posting menggunakan nama kaum lain sedangkan dia sendiri etnik lain.)