Malaysia to investigate parody notice
Rahmah Ghazali
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it will investigate a parody notice bearing its name that warned the public against humiliating the country's leaders.
MCMC strategic communications director Sheikh Raffie Abd Rahman said the advisory, which was released by activist Fahmi Reza, was "100 per cent fake".
"We never released such advisories. Especially in such a manner," he said when contacted.
The fake notice which has been making its rounds since Saturday, depicted an edited photo of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The photo was accompanied with a warning that says:
"The public is warned against spreading edited pictures of the country's leaders in the form of clowns like the picture above on social media including through the Whatsapp application.
"It is an offence to share or spread such contents as it is against the laws especially Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act. If convicted, offenders will be fined a maximum of 50,000 ringgit and/or a year's imprisonment."
The advisory started to make its rounds after it was uploaded by Fahmi on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
He was previously told that he was under police watch for uploading an edited image of Najib, as part of his anti-Sedition Act campaign.
Sheikh Raffie said although the activist had admitted that it was a parody, an investigation would still be conducted.
"Even if it's a parody, there's a limit to it," he said.