Fahmi denies MCMC’s police report against blogger heavy handed
Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil says it is rights group Lawyers for Liberty’s prerogative to criticise MCMC for lodging a police report against a blogger. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil has defended the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for lodging a police report against a blogger, stating that the internet regulator was well within its rights to do so.
Yesterday, MCMC said it had lodged a report against blogger Murray Hunter over his claim that the internet regulator and the police had become politicised institutions. It also said Hunter’s comments “seemed to be defamatory”.
In response, rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today criticised MCMC for their actions, saying that it was heavy handed and unnecessary. It also said a public body funded by taxpayers had no business complaining of defamation.
Fahmi said while LFL had the right to criticise MCMC for lodging the report, he was confident the internet regulator did so after considering the legalities of it.
Murray Hunter.
“I think MCMC will have (their own) perspective on the matter … I don’t think they’re being a bit too much,” Fahmi told reporters during an event at Wisma Bernama here.
“They have got legal grounds for the action they are pursuing. LFL can comment and criticise … Feel free to do so.”
MCMC had lodged a police report against Hunter over his article titled “Chegubard’s arrest and charging is a warning to all Malaysians”, published yesterday.
In a statement, MCMC said the article was an offence under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which deals with offences linked to the use of network facilities to transmit communication “deemed to be offensive” or which “could cause annoyance to another person”.
It said Hunter should have filed a complaint through official channels if he had issues with MCMC.
When contacted yesterday, Hunter said MCMC was “getting ridiculous” and claimed that his Substack – a platform that supports subscription newsletters – had been blocked in Malaysia.