A waste of time and resources, say lawyers about student’s sedition probe

It is absurd for police to probe a student for sedition for liking a Facebook page titled "I love Israel", say criminal lawyers, adding that police should not waste their time investigating such frivolous reports.

They said it was impossible to frame a charge under the archaic law as the police had trespassed into a private domain of an individual.

"It is a joke. What is wrong if someone "likes" a Facebook page," said an annoyed Fahri Azzat.

The lawyer said police were curtailing the freedom of expression, speech and association "just because a section of the Malaysian community disliked Israel".

"Liking a page in Facebook cannot be an offence under the sedition law," Fahri said, adding he did not see how the student could "sow the seed of hatred or incite violence" by simply "liking" a page.

Fahri said such unproductive investigations were going to be disruptive to the lives of potential suspects.

He was responding to a report that police have started investigating a Form 5 student in Penang after the student had click "Like" on a Facebook page titled "I love Israel".

A student from a school in Taman Tasek Mutiara, Simpang Ampat, the boy's action attracted criticisms and threats from other Facebook users, after one of his teachers saw the "Like" and shared it on her page, criticising him for it.

There were calls to boycott the boy and one Facebook user commented that he should be burnt.

Police said the boy was now living in fear and has since shut down his Facebook page and lodged a police report yesterday.

It was reported that the boy had claimed that he had accidentally clicked "Like" on the pro-Israel page.

Another lawyer M. Visvanathan said police have virtually invaded the privacy of the student just because others disliked the page.

"Is that innocent act going to be a threat to national security and public order," he asked.

Visvanathan said what the boy did could be an offence if Parliament had enacted a law to disassociate Malaysians with the Jewish state and its people.

"Even then, such a law can be challenged for infringing the rights of citizens, so long as it did not bring any form of harm to individuals and the nation," he said.

He said police should save its limited resources and investigate serious crimes instead.

"The investigation is going to inflict a psychological scar on the student just because the police want to satisfy the unfounded fear and unhappiness of others," he said.

Earlier, Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said the case is being probed under the Sedition Act.

Penang education department director Osman Hussain said the teacher responsible for the Facebook posting that led to the student being vilified and threatened on the social network, will be served a reminder not to take to Facebook to discuss her students.

"If she does it again, she will be transferred out of Penang," he said today, adding that the department’s hands are tied since it is now a police case.
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