JUNE 2 — If a certain product offends people, they should boycott it instead of calling for police action to protect their wounded feelings.
It is a complete waste of public funds for the police to investigate The Star, under the Sedition Act 1948 no less, over an unfortunate page layout that had a large headline, “Malaysian terrorist leader”, over an unrelated image dominating the front page of Muslims praying during the first day of Ramadan.
The newspaper is reportedly being investigated under Section 298A of the Penal Code that prohibits causing disunity or hatred on grounds of religion.
Political parties had swiftly condemned The Star, accusing it of linking terrorism to Muslims. For once, politicians from Umno, PKR, Amanah and PAS came together, if only for a mountain made out of a molehill.
Newspapers from other countries have also had problematic layouts on their front page, from one featuring the headline “‘We had nonstop sex’” over pictures of a dog and George Clooney, to another with the headline “Hunt for Britain’s cruellest criminal” next to an image of Queen Elizabeth II.
It’s one thing to slam the press for errors (or even to boycott them, if one feels terribly offended); it’s another to investigate them for a criminal offence.
It is also disappointing to see Amanah Youth asking the Home Ministry to take “stern action” against The Star. The ministry issued the paper a show-cause letter, demanding an explanation as to why action should not be taken, including suspension of its printing permit.
The call for state action contradicts Pakatan Harapan’s purported stance for greater press freedom. If the Opposition wins the next election, will they retain the requirement for printing permits so that they can use it to control the press just like Barisan Nasional (BN)?
In terms of freedom of speech, Pakatan doesn’t appear much different from BN as they also frequently lodge police reports whenever they get offended, rather than file defamation suits.
One of the features of a developed nation is free speech, in which citizens can say whatever they like, protected from state action, as long as they do not make hate speech and threaten physical harm.
Unfortunately in Malaysia, people seem to perceive anything remotely offensive related to race or religion as hate speech, cheapening the concept. What makes it worse is that state action appears to be biased.
The Star wasn’t even trying to be insulting; they just made a mistake and they have apologised for it.
If the picture below the “terrorist” headline had been that of Christians, Buddhists or Hindus praying, would these respective religious groups have found it offensive? I doubt it.
Why did these critics of The Star make the link between the headline and the image?
If Malaysians really want the country to be a mature democracy, they need to learn how to deal with their own feelings instead of asking the police to step in every time they get offended.
Malaysia should not be a nanny state.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
