NEGERI SEMBILAN WAWASAN pro-tem chairman and outspoken activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin who is better known as Chegu Bard has been sentenced to four months in jail for criminal defamation.
He was charged for making remarks that could tarnish the reputation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim in January 2024.
Sessions court judge Norma Ismail held that Badrul’s defence failed to raise reasonable doubt about the prosecution’s case.
In addition to the sentence, the WAWASAN election director also had his bail increased to RM5,000.
Defence lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali is reported to have confirmed that the judge also granted a stay of execution pending an appeal to the High Court.
Badrul was initially charged on April 29, 2024 for an offence committed three months earlier under Section 500 of the Penal Code that provides for two years of jail time, a fine or both.
The former Bersatu leader had claimed that Sultan Ibrahim granted an audience to meet several representatives of the federal opposition bloc, Perikatan Nasional (PN). However, Istana Negara denied the claim.
The sessions court had acquitted him in 2025 due to lack of a prima facie case. But the prosecution team appealed to the High Court in June this year. It subsequently ordered Badrul to enter his defence this year.
This is not the first time Badrul landed on the wrong side of the law. He has made numerous claims in the past that led him to be charged in court.
Politically Badrul who is now with WAWASAN was once with PKR. – Oct 28, 2026
Main image credit: Astro Awani
