Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has questioned the Defense Ministry's decision to allow a pro-Umno blogger to board the Scorpene submarine as the country's national security could have been jeopardised.

While the controversial blogger 'Papagomo ' did not board the submarine together with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his two deputies - Mansor Othman and P Ramasamy - in Langkawi yesterday, he appears to have had access to the craft.

pakatan ceramah shah alam 041211 anwar Papagomo's presence in the seacraft earlier may have compromised the security of the country, Anwar ( left ) said.

Since Friday, Papagomo has blogged twice on his giddy experience being the "first blogger in the KD Tun Razak Scorpene submarine".

In his blog post yesterday, he admitted being in the submarine for about five hours, and had questioned the crew about everything related to the craft, the details of which are kept by the Navy and considered "a government secret".

"He (Papagomo) is an Umno lackey, these (bloggers) do not have to submit to any rules or laws in this country," the former deputy prime minister told reporters when met at the Penang PKR Fundraising dinner at the Straits Quay last night.

When told that journalists, other than one from Bernama and two from TV3 , were barred from entering the craft, Anwar shot back "that is precisely my point to prove that some people are above the law".

Anwar said Papagomo's presence in the submarine is an important issue for the Opposition to take up not because the Defense Ministry has given preference to one person to board the submarine but because the country's national security has been compromised.

"If in a week the police does not seriously take up this case, that shows an abdication of duty on the part of the police force," he said.

 Unwanted Papagomo

Lim himself was upset that Papagomo showed up during his trip to the submarine, and had refused to board it until Defense Minister Zahid Hamidi removed the blogger.

Zahid had invited the three Penang government top officials to view the submarine because they had criticised it, saying it could not dive.

Black Dog (left) blogger at scorpene visit Pakatan leaders said they were not disputing the need for national security nor the ability of the Navy to protect the country, but were more concerned about the costly RM3.68 billion purchase and RM534 million service contract or 'commission' involved in procuring the submarine.

"Initially the blogger Papagomo was supposed to be on board, but I objected as I refused to be in the same submarine with a liar who made false allegations against my 15-year-old son of sexually molesting his classmate," said Lim in a statement yesterday.

Another pro-Umno blogger Zakir Mohammed or 'Big Dog' ( above, left ), was also spotted travelling in the helicopter which brought Lim and his deputies back to the Langkawi airport after diving in the submarine.

Zahid has so far denied that the bloggers had entered the submarine, saying if the ministry had allowed it, more would request to go for a trip in it.

'National security the keyword'

Meanwhile, state PKR vice-president S Raveentharan said the Defence Ministry should not allow third parties who are not MPs or state assemblypersons to obtain 'secret' information about the submarine.

He said such crucial information was only for the Defence Ministry to access.

penang pkr adun raveentharan police report "People cannot just go in, take photos and do anything they like," he said, adding he would raise the matter in the state legislative assembly and hoped his colleagues would also question the Defence Ministry in Parliament.

When asked what further action PKR would take on the matter, Raveentharan( left ) said the party was considering lodging a police report.

As the government in waiting, Raveenthiran added that Pakatan would never compromise on issues of national security.

However, the Batu Uban assemblyperson said if issues of national security were brought to court, judges usually "fold their arms" and left it to the government to resolve the matter.

"National security is a magical word, it is not defined. It is what the executives say it is. But you cannot leave issues of national security to the whims and fancies of ministers," he added.