KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Datuk A. Kadir Jasin has reminded those who are active online to accept that they may be “monitored”, by foreign and domestic intelligence agencies if not the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
The former newsman also suggested that a certain royal house may be “monitored” for partisan views, after it has previously expressed pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) views instead of being neutral.
“So I am not surprised if the people are now ‘monitoring’ the social media activities of this crown prince and his father to see if they continue to express partisan views instead of being royal and regal,” the former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief wrote on his blog.
He did not name the crown price and Ruler, but made allusion to the former who warned the public against “a 93-year-old individual who wants to be prime minister.”
In a Facebook post prior to the polls, Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim had launched a thinly-veiled attack on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, without naming him, and warned Johoreans not to be duped by a “forked-tongue” individual.
He also said changing a country’s fate and improving the system was not by bringing down a government, but by changing it from within.
This week, Tunku Ismail now claimed that he and his father, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, are “being monitored” through their social media pages by certain parties using covert intelligence systems.
His claim has been denied by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun, the MCMC, and Deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman.
Kadir added in his blog that the more immediate concern regarding the royal house was not the monitoring, but them “straying into the political arena where they may get clobbered, their immunity questioned and their status lowered”.
“Anybody who plays politics must be prepared to be treated like a politician more so when he or she takes to the media — social and formal — to air partisan views,” he said.
In May, Pakatan Harapan (PH) not only took power for the first time in Putrajaya but also in Johor despite the royal house’s warning, while Dr Mahathir was elected prime minister.
Tunku Ismail then changed his tune, saying he has a good working relationship with the current PH state government in Johor, just like how it was with the previous BN administration.
