KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Authorities’ decision to investigate Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the complaint his plane may have been sabotaged reveals how the Anti-Fake News Act can be abused, said PKR’s N. Surendran.
The lawyer expressed incredulity at how the police could consider the former prime minister’s suspicions to be in violation of the new law to counter fake news, stressing that it was the alleged sabotage that should be examined.
“It is plainly against the public interest to label a complaint on a serious matter as 'fake news'; and then investigate the complainant himself,” he said in a statement today.
“What sort of message does that send to the general public?”
He added that the effect of such an investigation would be to discourage the public from lodging complaints for fear that they may also be investigated under the same law.
Surendran drew parallels with a Danish national who became the maiden convict of the Anti-Fake News Act this week over a YouTube video alleging that police were slow to respond to the shooting of a Palestinian lecturer in Kuala Lumpur two weekends prior.
He questioned if simply making a complaint, even if eventually disproved, should be considered fake news.
The investigation on Dr Mahathir over the sabotage claim also violated his right to free speech, Surendran said before concluding that the probe corroborated previous fears that the law was susceptible to abuse.
Police yesterday confirmed they were investigating Dr Mahathir for claiming that a plane he was meant to travel on had been sabotaged.
The firm operating the plane as well as the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia both rejected the allegation, insisting that the aircraft only suffered an air leak in one of its tyres.
