'Too much' to suspend Era FM licence, Bersatu Youth says

Summary

• Bersatu Youth condemns the MCMC for wanting to suspend the Era FM radio station over the recent incident where its presenters insulted a Hindu religious ceremony.

• Its exco member Khairi Zainol Abidin said such an action is “too much”.

• He also urges MCMC to focus on other similar cases and be fair in their action.

The MCMC should not go overboard in its action against Era FM over the recent “vel vel” controversy, said Bersatu Youth.

Its exco member Khairi Zainol Abidin said the telecommunications regulator does not have to suspend the radio station’s licence as the three presenters involved have apologised for their mistake.

Instead, he said, MCMC should also focus on other similar cases which saw other religions insulted.

“This trouble was supposedly committed by the three deejays only, so why does MCMC want to take such action which can jeopardise the livelihood of other staff members unrelated to the incident?

“The three radio hosts have also apologised and are being punished. MCMC should instead focus on taking fair action against other offenders who insulted other religions.

“Do not only focus on this case, when there are others who have also insulted other religions but were not subjected to such a strong action,” he said.

To drive home his points, Khairi cited several recent cases involving insults on religions, including the Facebook post of comedian Harith Iskander and comment by social media user Cecelia Yap that mocked Islam.

He said Harith had opened up the opportunity for others to insult Islam with his posting on the “ham and cheese sandwich” issue, while Cecelia Yap had directly insulted the religion by linking Prophet Muhammad’s name with the meat, which is considered as unclean and haram in Islam.

“Both of them were only issued a compound of RM10,000 each by MCMC. But in the case of the Era FM radio presenters, MCMC sent a notice with the intention to suspend its license, a move that would affect the whole organisation.

“MCMC should only take action against the three radio presenters individually and not involve the whole organisation as it can affect those who are innocent,” he said.

Adding further, Khairi also questioned the authorities for not taking a similar action against convenience store chain KK Mart for displaying socks with the word “Allah” printed on them.

‘Unintentional mistake’

On Wednesday, MCMC in a statement said it has handed Astro Audio, the operator of Era FM, with a notice of intention on licence suspension following a viral video of its presenters mocking a Hindu religious ceremony.

The licence holder has 30 days to respond to the notice before a decision is taken, MCMC had said.

In the controversial video, one of the Era FM presenters was seen dancing to a “vel vel” chant by several other staff members before he burst into laughter.

Following backlash, Era FM hosts Nabil Ahmad, Azad Jasmin, and Radin Amir Affendy took to social media to apologise for their “unintentional” mistake of insulting the Indian community.

They also went to the Batu Caves Hindu temple on the same day to apologise.

On top of the MCMC, the police have also launched an investigation into the incident.

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