No Sedition Act on 'deity' bottle issue, says Nazri

 

Calls for action against manufacturers of the ‘deity’ mineral bottle have gone out of hand and should be reined in, says minister Nazri Aziz.

After Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) called on the police to investigate the producer of the mineral water bottle, the tourism and culture minister called for sanity to prevail.

PPIM lodged a police report yesterday, saying that the printing of the image of a Hindu deity next to the halal logo is "seditious" and "insensitive" to Muslims.

"I don't know if the group wants to hang the manager, lah. I don't know, lah," Nazri said as he burst into laughter when asked to comment on the group lodging a police report on the issue.

"Let's be sane, people. We just withdraw it (the label). That's it.

"We are a country of sane people. The whole country is not an asylum, having insane people making lots of noise.

"You just register your unhappiness, that's it; we take action, we withdraw," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

He stressed the company that produced the controversial label had no ill-intention at all when it placed that image near the 'halal' logo.

"There is no intention at all to insult Islam. It was done to promote tourism in the country... surely, there are places of interest that are religious places."

To appease those who are unhappy with the image, Nazri said, the ministry would withdraw bottles with the deity picture and adjust the halal logo.

'In a denial syndrome'

On another matter, Nazri also said the numbers of Chinese tourists to the country declined after the MH370 tragedy.

This situation was further worsened after several kidnapping cases took place in Sabah, he added, and at the same time pointed out that many people were reluctant to concede that Sabah was a dangerous place to go to.

Therefore, he described this to be a "denial syndrome" among Malaysians.

"I also do not dare to give promises that the places (such as Sabah) are safe and under control. The situation is still dangerous.

"We are in a habit of denying... please do not put other people's lives in danger," Nazri added.

Right to be offended

Meanwhile, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) said calls for the company to be investigated under the Sedition Act proved the need for the Act to be repealed.

“Such calls (as those made by PPIM) are both worrying and farcical”

“It is the right of any group to be offended by the actions or words of others. However, this does not mean that every offending statement should be punishable by law,” said  CIJ in a statement today.

As such, actions that do not advocate hatred and incite discrimination, hostility or violence should not warrant legal punishment, it added.

The CIJ thus called upon the government to stop “feeding unhealthy racial and religious sentiment and instead to demonstrate leadership by calling for understanding and respect”.