He was taken to court straight from the airport to face a criminal charge of attempting to escape custody, to which he pleaded not guilty.
He failed to persuade the magistrate to grant him bail, and was ordered to be remanded until his case is next mentioned on July 30.
In his plea for bail, Jamal said the life he led in Indonesia for almost two months had been a “nightmare”.
“I would not want to live that life again, and I hope to clear my name from whatever charges I have,” he said from the dock. He urged the court to allow him bail. “I promise to go to the police station every day.”
He was calm and composed while addressing the court. He did not elaborate on his experiences while on the run.
“I wanted to surrender to the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta but was arrested when I arrived from Sumatra,” he said.
Jamal, head of Sungai Besar Umno and leader of the Red Shirt movement, disappeared in May from a hospital ward where he had been charged with another offence and granted bail. He had been sought by police since, and was arrested on Monday by Indonesian police.
He told the magistrate that he thought his bail process had been completed after he was charged.
“I signed the documents for my remand release in the afternoon (of May 25) and once I was done signing the papers, there were no more police in the hospital. I thought I was freed from remand,” Jamal said.
He added that if he had wanted to run, he would have done it before he was charged that week.
As a political leader, Jamal said he was very cooperative whenever under police investigation. However he had been “frightened” by several raids conducted by the police and Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission after the change of government in May.
“I am scared the government will persecute me,” he said.
The magistrate, Mohamad Firdaus Sadina Ali, ordered him to be remanded in custody.
Jamal claims he’s being harassed, asks Muhyiddin to guarantee his safety