Six to be charged for insulting Perak Sultan via blogs, web postings

By Lourdes Charles, The Star

Six people, who allegedly insulted the Sultan of Perak via their blogs or online postings, are expected to be charged on Friday under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

They are expected to be charged in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Kota Kinabalu, and Butterworth under Section 233(1) of the Act for unwise use of network or network services by making comments, demands, suggestions or communication deemed vulgar, false, threatening or disturbing. The charges are to be read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

The six will thus become the first to be hauled up under the Act.

Two others are also expected to face similar charges in Terengganu on Sunday.

Those found guilty under the Act face a maximum fine of RM50,000 or a maximum jail term of one year or both as provided for under Section 233(3) of the Act.

It is learnt that several senior Information and Technology executives working with the Perak State Secretariat had on Feb 16 lodged a complaint with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) after learning of the existence of the blogs and comments.

The MCMC subsequently lodged a report with the police’s Commercial Crimes Department (Multimedia and Cyber Crime Investigation unit), which started probing the blogs and postings.