PETALING JAYA (May 8, 2008): malaysia-today.net's webmaster Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who refused bail on a sedition charge and went on a hunger strike in Sungai Buloh prison, has agreed to post bail after being persuaded by his wife today.

However, due to the fact that he only decided past noon, the 58-year-old blogger had to be held until tomorrow and is expected to be produced in the Petaling Jaya sessions court for his release.

In a sessions court here, Raja Petra's lawyer J. Chandra, who was with the blogger's wife, Marina Lee Abdullah, said the court had to follow procedures when releasing an accused under remand.

It is learnt that bail for those held is usually posted in the early hours of the day to enable police to produce the accused before noon.

"We tried to get him out by today but the judge chose to follow procedures and did not want to make an exception for him," said Chandra.

Marina had met with her husband in prison early today for about 10 minutes. She was relieved when he agreed to come home and end the hunger strike.

"Probably the note I left him on Wednesday in the prison helped a bit. All my note said was 'I want you home'. He was fine although he looked down due to a backache. He also told me he had something to eat and drink," she said.

Raja Petra is expected to be brought to court at 9.45am tomorrow after she posted bail of RM5,000.

Marina said although the online fund raiser for her husband's bail was closed several hours after it was open on Tuesday (May 6), it continued to swell and currently stands at more than RM44,000. On the first day, RM34,000 was collected from supporters of the controversial blogger known for his fiery and no-holds barred comments and articles.

She said although Raja Petra would decide what to do with the remainder of the money, she suggests the fund could be used to help bloggers in a similar situation.

"There is another blogger who is being charged, and posted bail of RM3,000. The general consensus is that we should keep the money for other bloggers who get into trouble like this," she said, adding that they would put it to an online vote.