NGO Pertubuhan Minda & Sosial Prihatin (PMSP) has lodged a police report against Malaysiakini , claiming that its sister company KiniTV had misreported the Johor sultan’s speech last week.
It was lodged at the Petaling Jaya police station this morning.
Its adviser Ramesh Rao took issue with the caption of a KiniTV video published on Aug 25, which said that Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar has urged the ruling government not the fool the people with ‘good news’ that concealed the truth.
Ramesh claimed that the sultan ( photo ) did not make reference to any person, and could have been directing his statement towards the governments of Penang or Selangor.
“His majesty had never said ‘to the ruling government’ ( ‘kepada kerajaan yang memerintah’ ). His majesty never told the ruling government not to fool the people.
“No, his majesty never said that. But Malaysiakini reported (that the sultan referred) ‘to the ruling government’. This is clearly a spin and a very dangerous lie.
“Such statements can muddle the waters and (damage) relations between the palace and prime minister,” he said, based on a video published by KiniTV today.
He was apparently construing the phrase “kerajaan yang memerintah” to refer specifically to the BN-ruled federal government.
Public alarm
According to his report that was sighted by Malaysiakini , Ramesh also urged the police to launch an investigation into the matter under Section 124I of the Penal Code.
Section 124I deals with the dissemination of false reports that are deemed to be likely to cause public alarm, and carries a prison term up to five years upon conviction.
The text of the sultan’s speech that the report was based on actually reads: “Suka juga saya ingatkan kepada pemimpin-pemimpin kerajaan yang telah dipilih oleh rakyat supaya memikul tanggungjawab dengan penuh amanah untuk kepentingan umum dan janganlah mengutamakan kepentingan peribadi.
“Rakyat pada hari ini adalah generasi yang berilmu dan bijak menilai maklumat yang diterima, janganlah cuba memperbodohkan rakyat dengan memberikan berita dan maklumat yang hanya sedap untuk didengar bagi menutup keadaan sebenar. Selesaikanlah masalah masalah yang timbul dengan segera.”
(“I would also like to remind representatives elected by the people to shoulder public responsibilities entrusted to them, and to set aside personal interests.
“The rakyat today are a generation of smart and learned people who can dissect information they receive, so please do not take them as fools by feeding them rosy news and information to hide what is really going on. Deal with the problems at hand immediately.”)
