Yes, I am guilty of speculating too
Fa Abdul, FMT
I read Scott Ng’s piece on Sunday titled “The price of speculation” with a raised eyebrow. Although Scott made a number of rather good points, it still felt like a kung fu kick right in my stomach. Ouch!
You see, I was one of those who speculated on the case. Even before the arrest of Hanizan Mohamed Radzi, the taxi driver who picked up a five-year-old kidnap victim wandering along the roadside and sent him home, I thought there was something fishy about the entire story based on the scanty reports and videos of the case.
Now I am not going to delve into the details of the kidnapping to justify my curiosity (and why I still am). However what remains a big question is why it was painted as wrong that some of us were curious and speculated on matters taking place around us.
There is a difference between analysing matters which give rise to our curiosity and actually voicing out our judgements to the world especially when a person’s good name and reputation is at stake.
Scott was right – it was wrong for commenters to bluntly prosecute the taxi driver on social media, knowing he was taken in for questioning and was placed under remand. However, speculation does not amount to prosecution by the public.
If speculation is wrong, aren’t we just as guilty for calling the taxi driver a hero the moment he sent the kidnap victim back home?
Technically speaking, a ‘no speculation policy’ would require we keep our mouths shut and not analyse an issue deeply if we do not have in-depth knowledge of the matter.
However, shouldn’t we have done the same during the investigations into Altantuya Shaaribu’s murder? Everyone speculated and freely prosecuted some big names in our country. But did anyone apologise to Razak Baginda when he was finally freed by the court of law?
Everyone speculated and publicly prosecuted Saiful Bukhari during the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy case as well but did anyone apologise to Saiful when Anwar was found guilty? Why wasn’t it wrong for us to speculate back then but not now? A tad hypocritical, is it not?
