Social media policing reeks of double standards, Kit Siang tells IGP

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — The police are only investigating social media posts that are deemed “offensive” to the government, while allegedly inflammatory remarks made against Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders are ignored, Lim Kit Siang claimed today.

The senior DAP leader claimed that the double standards are obvious in the swift response by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to posts that involve federal government leaders, such as a recent “conspiracy” tweet in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

In a post on Twitter today, Khalid instructed police to find and investigate a user with the handle fazel@ollie_mollie for posting a tweet in response to Najib, claiming the disappearance of flight MH370 was a “conspiracy” and not an accident.

The top cop, however, paid no heed to a “mischievous and evil tweet” earlier today accusing Lim of having allegedly caused the May 13, 1969 race riots, the Gelang Patah MP claimed.

Lim added that DAP has been flooded with “lies” allegedly spread on social media by supporters of ruling Barisan Nasional lynchpin Umno, especially in the wake of a warning by PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang of a possible recurrence of May 13 should local council elections be restored.

Lim denied claims that his party is only now pushing for the third vote to be restored, stressing that they have been pursuing it since the 1960s and that it has now become a common agenda for the PR opposition pact.

He also hit out at accusations that DAP is being “communist” for pushing for a return of the third vote, asking Umno supporters if they would affix the same label on Indonesia, Turkey and Iran which practise the same system.

The DAP parliamentary leader stressed that there is no way the Chinese would benefit more than the Malays from local council elections — as claimed by critics — because Malay urbanisation over the past 50 years has made Malays the majority in 90 per cent of urban areas.

The third vote is at the centre of an ongoing spat between PR partners DAP and PAS, with leaders of the Islamist party split between Hadi’s position against local council polls and collective support for the issue in the coalition.