Buck up instead of silencing flood critics, Syahredzan tells govt
The government should buck up instead of trying to silence people criticising its flood management on social media, said lawyer Syahredzan Johan, who is also the political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.
He made the call after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) put in requests to Twitter to remove posts critical of the government's response to the recent flash floods. Twitter rejected the requests...
The government should buck up instead of trying to silence people criticising its flood management on social media, said lawyer Syahredzan Johan, who is also the political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.
He made the call after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) put in requests to Twitter to remove posts critical of the government's response to the recent flash floods. Twitter rejected the requests.
"It is clear that the government has been unsettled by the people's criticism about how it has managed the floods that it has tried to delete such posts.
"The government should reflect on itself and address its weaknesses and preparedness to face such floods to ensure they do not repeat, instead of trying to act unconstitutionally.
"The government should immediately instruct the MCMC to stop trying to silence the people and try to delete the comments of critics," Syahredzan (above) said in a statement.
He reminded the government that freedom of speech is guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.
People's right to air opinions
"This right cannot be curbed on a whim. In a democratic country like Malaysia, the people have a right to air their opinions, views and criticism against any government without undue and unreasonable restrictions.
On Wednesday, a Twitter user said he had received an email from Twitter informing him about a request made by MCMC to the micro-blogging site to remove his Twitter posts.
"In the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that Twitter has received a request from MCMC regarding your Twitter account that claims the following content violates the law(s) of Malaysia.
"We have not taken any action on the reported content at this time as a result of this request," said the email from Twitter.
Based on the email, the contents that MCMC wants to be removed include a tweet where the netizen criticised a flood fundraising event that involved Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun.
The other content that MCMC took issue with was a tweet that criticised Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Noh Omar over the latter's statement regarding the eligibility of flood victims to claim government aid.
Channel help instead
Meanwhile, Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi said the MCMC would be better to scour social media to detect who needs help.
"During the disaster, many Twitter users have circulated crucial information about rescuing flood victims.
"MCMC should play its role to ensure important information is conveyed efficiently.
"Instead, MCMC is resorting to censoring criticism. This is a regretful development," she said.
Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang also urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to reprimand the MCMC.
"In fact, Ismail should order a full inquiry into the MCMC action asking Twitter to remove posts critical of the government’s response to the recent flood disaster, and even remove the MCMC officials responsible," he said.
Lim added that Ismail should also inform the public how often MCMC had been engaged in such censorship activities.
"This is necessary as Communications and Multimedia Minister Anuar Musa seems to be unaware of the MCMC requests to Twitter.
"Is this another example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing in the Ismail Sabri government?" he said.
