Kit Siang wants PM to explain Home Minister’s cow-head action
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 – DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang wants Datuk Seri Najib Razak to explain why the Home Minister is not charged with sedition for inciting racial sentiment when he justified the cow-head protest in Shah Alam while Malaysiakini is facing charges for displaying the cow-head protest clip.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein defended and justified the cow-head demonstration after meeting with Malay-Muslim representatives of Shah Alam's Section 23 at his office last week but changed his stand after he came under heavy criticism from the Pakatan Rakyat and the public.
A group, claiming to be Muslim residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam, the new site of a Hindu temple, held a demonstration outside the Selangor state secretariat last Friday, dragging a severed cow-head, an animal sacred in Hinduism, which they stomped on and spat at under the gaze of the riot police.
The act was carried out by a group of 50 protestors who oppose the relocation of the Sri Mahamariamman Temple to Section 23 from Section 19, claiming the area is mainly occupied by Malay-Muslims.
The 150-year-old temple was built on a plantation which over the years was developed into housing estates by the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS). No provisions were made to relocate the temple, which is now in the middle of a Muslim majority area.
Lim questioned why Malaysiakini is being investigated by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for displaying the video footage of the cow-head demonstration on their website.
“The Malaysiakini video clips of the cow head protests is highly offensive, not because of the news portal but because of the action of the irresponsible people who showed utter contempt for the sensitivities and sensibilities in a plural society as well as a top Cabinet Minister who could be guilty of such offensive conduct as to defend and justify such protest,” he said in a statement.
MCMC directed the web portal to remove the clips because it was against Section 211(1) of Communication and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998 which reads;
“No content applications service provider, or other persons using a content applications service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.”
Lim added that the act to penalise Malaysiakini is politically motivated and fears the MCMC is losing its institutional impartiality and independence.
“Deputy Minister for Information, Communication and Culture Joseph Salang Gandum cannot be more wrong when he said that the public expect action to be taken against Malaysiakini by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for the videoclips.
“MCMC will go the way of the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in having its institutional independence, impartiality and professionalism doubted if it embarks on the road to become Umno/Barisan Nasional catspaw in a campaign of selective prosecution against Malaysiakini and independent news portals or websites over the cow-head video clips, ” he stressed.
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 – DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang wants Datuk Seri Najib Razak to explain why the Home Minister is not charged with sedition for inciting racial sentiment when he justified the cow-head protest in Shah Alam while Malaysiakini is facing charges for displaying the cow-head protest clip.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein defended and justified the cow-head demonstration after meeting with Malay-Muslim representatives of Shah Alam's Section 23 at his office last week but changed his stand after he came under heavy criticism from the Pakatan Rakyat and the public.
A group, claiming to be Muslim residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam, the new site of a Hindu temple, held a demonstration outside the Selangor state secretariat last Friday, dragging a severed cow-head, an animal sacred in Hinduism, which they stomped on and spat at under the gaze of the riot police.
The act was carried out by a group of 50 protestors who oppose the relocation of the Sri Mahamariamman Temple to Section 23 from Section 19, claiming the area is mainly occupied by Malay-Muslims.
The 150-year-old temple was built on a plantation which over the years was developed into housing estates by the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS). No provisions were made to relocate the temple, which is now in the middle of a Muslim majority area.
Lim questioned why Malaysiakini is being investigated by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for displaying the video footage of the cow-head demonstration on their website.
“The Malaysiakini video clips of the cow head protests is highly offensive, not because of the news portal but because of the action of the irresponsible people who showed utter contempt for the sensitivities and sensibilities in a plural society as well as a top Cabinet Minister who could be guilty of such offensive conduct as to defend and justify such protest,” he said in a statement.
MCMC directed the web portal to remove the clips because it was against Section 211(1) of Communication and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998 which reads;
“No content applications service provider, or other persons using a content applications service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.”
Lim added that the act to penalise Malaysiakini is politically motivated and fears the MCMC is losing its institutional impartiality and independence.
“Deputy Minister for Information, Communication and Culture Joseph Salang Gandum cannot be more wrong when he said that the public expect action to be taken against Malaysiakini by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for the videoclips.
“MCMC will go the way of the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in having its institutional independence, impartiality and professionalism doubted if it embarks on the road to become Umno/Barisan Nasional catspaw in a campaign of selective prosecution against Malaysiakini and independent news portals or websites over the cow-head video clips, ” he stressed.
12/09/09
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