YOURSAY | ‘The case shouldn't have been brought to court in the first place.’

Yellow balloon woman acquitted on insulting PM charge

Vijay47: The ironic feature of the ‘not guilty’ decision is that it is no cause for celebration – the charge should never have been laid on activist Bilqis Hijjas in the first place.

On the other hand, the entire sorry episode reveals the extent the police would go to please their political master.

The case is not even funny any more, it is sad, bewildering, and an alarming indication of the direction this country is heading at full speed.

The world is concerned with challenges to global trade, the ramifications on the European Union before and after Brexit, and a host of other issues while in Malaysia, we have the resources of the police and judiciary directed to a young lady's lark of releasing some yellow balloons. The whole plot is simply too unbelievable.

I suppose (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar's next action would be to file an appeal since balloon-bearing terrorists should not be given free rein. Will he perhaps first consult the mufti of Pahang?

AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes, now that you are a member of Amnesty International's Human Rights Committee, perhaps this is the first case you should pick up, where a young lady had to undergo all manner of harassment just because she released some balloons in a shopping mall.

Charging her over this act was an abuse of the judicial process and a grave intrusion into her human rights.

While you are at it, you can also demand that the Pahang mufti be charged with advocating not just violence but the murder of those who think differently from him. But be a bit cautious, the IGP may charge you with releasing airplanes into the sky.

N1: I am glad that we still have a magistrate with integrity who can provide a sound judgment.

Only corrupt individuals or government agencies controlled by corrupt individuals will consider balloons with the word ‘justice’ an offence. It is getting more and more difficult to understand what is right and what is wrong in this country.

Dont Just Talk: Simple common sense will tell you that releasing yellow balloons is not a criminal offence. Even when the balloons are released in the presence of the person allegedly involved with '681 American Pies'.

The IGP and Attorney-General’s Chambers should take it as a lesson and not to repeat their stupidity in future.

Anonymous 568201438363345: Malaysians seriously need to understand the meaning of separation of powers of the judicial system, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) included.

If this does not happen, Malaysia is doomed. I’m glad once in a while you see justice being done. This statement is rather sad, isn't it?

Kawak: This may be the first case in the world (or Third World?) where balloons thrown in a shopping mall is considered a criminal offence.

Anonymous 1595491436431853: I like this statement, "He chose to dismiss the event organiser’s statement that they had been angered by Bilqis’ action, as the organiser did not even notice the balloons when they were dropped."

It just shows there are just too many liars around to achieve their ill objectives.

Anonymous #19098644: Clearly, a storm in a teacup. So much resources, money and time, which could have been used to fight crime.

Instead the regime used such resources to silence legitimate criticism, which is allowed in a democratic society as provided by our Federal Constitution.

Fogbom: Magistrate Mohd Faizal Ismail should be ashamed of himself.

He is obviously biased towards the opposition, against the principles of ‘justice’, ‘free media’ and ‘democracy’ that our Dear Beloved Leader Najib Abdul Razak has worked so hard to inculcate among the people, including the ungrateful Chinese and Indians who relish voting for the corrupted DAP, PKR and Amanah.

These ingrates still support DAP even though their jailbird leader Lim Guan Eng is waiting to go on trial for corruption. This magistrate claims that he studied the case carefully.

It’s crystal clear that the words ‘justice’, ‘free media’ and ‘democracy’ belong exclusively to the Dearly Beloved Leader and you must apply, in triplicate, six months earlier, to the Jabatan Rambutan, for special permission to use them on yellow balloons.

It's an open-and-shut case and the lazy troublesome girl should have been sentenced to six months pulling out the lallang with her teeth at the Janda Baik Girls School. Chehh!

Abasir: Indeed, this is a terrible travesty of justice. Given the seriousness of the offence, attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali should have led the prosecution.

Let us all pray this Hari Raya that he orders an appeal. Releasing balloons is so insulting, especially yellow ones.

Wira: Malaysiakini readers, no need to rejoice about the result. It is an expected outcome. The purpose was to harass the poor girl with taxpayers’ money and they had already achieved that goal.

Ghostwhowalks: An alleged crime where there is no crime, is just a waste of everyone's time.

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