Pointing out that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) already polices the Internet, the activists charged that while the incident is a serious matter that should be dealt with appropriately, it should not be used as an excuse to muzzle free speech.
Lawyers for Liberty’s (LFL) Eric Paulsen said Najib likely just wants to curb online discussions about other controversial issues like his alleged involvement in the 1MDB controversy.
“It’s just a convenient excuse because as we all know, social media is one of the means they cannot control and authorities are finding it hard that they no longer have a say on what is being said on social media or about whatever issues especially with corruption and 1MDB,” Paulsen told Malay Mail Online.
“While we don’t take the Low Yat incident lightly, it’s a criminal matter and Malaysia does have an underlying racial problem, but trying to curb it through social media is going down the wrong path,” he added.
Najib’s call for stricter online regulation is merely another knee-jerk reaction, civil rights activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said, echoing Paulsen’s remark that the suggested crackdown on social media had more to do with online chatter about the prime minister’s graft allegations than about the Low Yat brawl.
“This is again a knee jerk reaction and cynics would say the incident came at a convenient time for the government to justify a clamp down of social media,” she said in a text message to Malay Mail Online.
She added that the additional regulation may also serve to stifle talk on Putrajaya’s “governance issues”.
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) advisor Dr Kua Kia Soong insisted that Putrajaya was focusing on the wrong thing, as more attention should be given to keeping the peace by ensuring an efficient police force, rather than controlling what is being said online which is under the jurisdiction of MCMC.
“What’s more serious in the Low Yat incident is how these characters were allowed to get away with it.
“Whether it’s May 13 or Kampung Medan, it’s the police who are very tardy in taking action; why is it so slow? Why did they allow about 100 to 200 thugs to gather?” Kua questioned when contacted by Malay Mail Online.
Ambiga also said that the government should not be focusing on social media, claiming it was enough that users keep each other in check.
She said Putrajaya should instead work to ensure its leaders did not use racial issues to divide Malaysians.
“The problem really lies with irresponsible leaders who have encouraged polarisation and those who have condoned such unsavoury mob behaviour in the past such as in the cross incident.
“There has therefore been no seriousness in controlling this type of behaviour,” she said, referring to an incident where a group of 40 Malay residents in Kampung Medan demanded that a church remove the cross it had affixed on its facade.
The case is still being investigated but only under Section 448 and 551 of the Penal Code for trespassing, and not under the Sedition Act as the Home Ministry had initially suggested.
“Authorities need to come to grips that this is 2015 and social media is way of life. They just have to live with it,” Paulsen said.
A riot broke out Sunday night at Low Yat Plaza, leaving five people injured, including three pressmen.
The riot reportedly started after 22-year-old Shahrul Anuar Abdul Aziz was handed over on Saturday to the police for allegedly stealing a RM800 phone from a store at the popular tech mall.
According to the police, Shahrul’s friend, who was also nabbed but later released, had contacted their other friends and the group returned to the mobile phone store, assaulted its workers and caused some RM70,000 worth of damages.
Rumours swirled on social media after the alleged theft that the Chinese trader had sold the Malay man a counterfeit phone, leading to calls for boycotts of “cheating” Chinese traders and the complex.
Commenting on the incident on Monday, Najib suggested stricter Internet controls after claiming that the incident was made into a racial issue because the social media was “too free”.
By Mayuri Mei Lin
No comments:
Post a Comment