AUG 14 — Reflecting back on the proverb above, it signifies cautious when vocalising our words to avoid any unwanted negative commotion which may arises due to our speeches. Verbally or not

I have been observing a particular society for a past few months in Malaysia and I conclude that many of Malaysian in this particular society does not practice this proverb and usually ended up making a fool out of their selves. Some even sparks anger among each other which resulted in colourful showers of vulgar words which I find truly unpleasant. Also, those who muttered these wicked words, I find them outdated, impolite and literally stupid.

So what is this particular society I am talking about? Well, it is the social media society namely, Facebook.

The first observation I gathered was, the society in social media has a very high tendency to receive news in Facebook as the prime source without even checking the validity of it. Quoting from Adele, “rumour has it!”. Rumour, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, can be defined as a piece of information or a story which people rambles about which may not be true. On the other hand, news can be defined as a new piece of information about something which has happened recently (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary). So, you see, just because an’information’ is the latest ‘news’, that doesn’t mean it is true especially if the news came from a ‘copy paste from a friend’ or ‘shared from a friend of a friend of my grandmother’s friend’. The similarity on the definition of news and rumour is the word ‘information’. Heads up people, information may or may not be true. Thus, do not place a 100% trust on such news unless you have verified it with an authoritative source. Conclusion: News can be rumours, unless you have verified it. Period.

Ironically, those who are technology savvy are at the advantage of checking information at the tip of their fingers and yet some of us still commit this silly mistake. The introduction of internet and World Wide Web had given birth to numerous social engines, websites and shortcuts to communicate with the reliable sources that we can rely on. But we do not do so, Why? Capital L (lazy) probably.

Now, how does believing in Facebook sources relates to think before you speak again? Well, that observation directed me into a finding of human’s or in my context Malaysian behaviour. It’s like bread and butter. You post news, people respond. News-human respond. Get it? It’s the respond from the social media’s society I am concerned about.

Recent events from Cadbury issue to wearing veil to exam and the sinkholes in Jalan Imbi were certainly strong enough to shake the archipelago. But what shook me the most was the level of ignorance and I-know-it-all attitude which leads to many Malaysians to post comments without even thinking or verifying their sources. 

I believe in freedom of speech as stated in our dear Federal Constitution, but I also understand that this freedom is not absolute. That is why there are laws pertaining defamation, sedition and etc. Right now my choice is defamation because I’ve seen countless of posts and comments which can be classified as defamation. Defamation in short is a publication done intentionally or unintentionally to damage one’s reputation by lowering it or causing the victim to be rejected by the public. Defamation can be divided into libel or slander. I’ll focus on libel, libel is an existing permanent entity which we can see. Examples are like newspaper articles, email, pictures and etc. To commit libel of defamation is very easy. I’ll apply it via Facebook. First, write something defaming, next, make sure the text are referring to the person you are defaming, finally, publish it via comments, share or post as your headlines. Tadaa! You can be sued.

Sounds impossible? Nope. Actual cases of defamation in social media do exist. In 2013, National Union of Bank Employees v Noorzeela bt Lamin is one of libel cases that took place in Facebook where RM100,000 was successfully claimed by the victim (plaintiff). Another one is in Twitter where social activist Fahmi Fadzil posted a tweet that was defamatory and it was solved by both parties with him posting 100 tweets to retract and apologise for his defaming statement. There are plenty more cases in Malaysia and abundant internationally. So, think wise.

So here are few issues which best portrayed the ignorant level of Malaysian Facebookies. The Cadbury issue, when it was first decided by JAKIM that they will suspend the HALAL certificate on Cadbury and conduct further investigations as the decision was not final. Words of rages bombarded on Facebook regarding Cadbury and even defaming this company. Many fellow Malaysians Facebookies decided to ignore the word ‘suspend’ and ‘not finalised’. Instead, they make their own decisions and declared Cadbury as ‘Haram’. Not only that is enough, they spout ruthless vulgar comments without hesitant and even try picking a fight with another commenter. Later, when it was declared by JAKIM that Cadbury is definitely ‘halal’ these people licked back what they spat. Well, at least some did apologised while others just flew off somewhere.

Next, the incident where a student was asked to remove her veil for the purpose of identification and I understand much dissatisfaction arises due to such resort. This issue is not something new, and it’s fine for people to argue regarding faith and procedures. However, don’t just blindly type out comments which came from emotional source rather than your research, reading and information source. This will portray how oblivion Malaysians can be and truly it is embarrassing. Again, when University of Malaya examination board actually explained that it was included in the rules and regulation in entering exam halls that wearing veil is not allowed, more arguments emerged. Hey, I love vocal efforts and you can argue until you lost your voice but please, do it maturely. Resorting in harsh words is very childish. Kindly to remind you any vulgar words which is used to offend a person can become defamatory.

Finally, the sinkholes incident in Jalan Imbi. When some Malaysian Facebookies found out that tape was being used to tape between the cracks and the surrounding roads of the sinkholes, we laughed at our authorities and claiming them to be stupid. Such comments are even joined by international Facebookies. Again, No research being done, no reading whatsoever and we judged. Later, a statement was produced by the authority in charge of the road condition clarifying that the tapes were used to detect further earth movement, not to fix the road. Reflect this, if you claimed them to be so stupid, do you think they will be hired to fix the roads? The fact that they can figured the usage of something so simple in assisting them in a difficult and dangerous task proves that they are actually clever and know what they are doing. It is us who knows how to comment and bash who are actually stupid. Think about it.

In a nutshell, what I am trying to say is that we need to stop talking without thinking. Truly, this habit of us can reflect just how bad we are in reading and finding out information. Also, since the society in social media is an international coverage, other countries may even laughed at our own ignorance. As the century grow and technologies advances, why not expand our brain beyond our own little world and move alongside the modernisation. We too should be better.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.