Monday 26 January 2015

Police report against FMT columnist

KUALA LUMPUR: An NGO called Semut has lodged a police report against columnist Mariam Mokhtar for an article that FMT published last Friday.

Semut Chairman Zaparuddin Abdul Rahim alleged that the article, titled “Allah ruling reveals Malay weakness”, was seditious and could threaten harmony among Malaysians.

Semut (Sensible and Ethical Malaysian United Troopers) is a group that monitors social media.
“I fear that more fomenters of hatred will emerge if the work of people like Mariam is not controlled,” Zaparuddin told reporters after lodging the report at the Dang Wangi police station. “Action must be taken before the situation gets more serious.”

He said Mariam had gone overboard in questioning the restriction on the use of “Allah” as a reference to God, adding that the issue should no longer arise now that the courts had decided the matter.

He also accused Mariam of inciting hatred towards Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak with her allegation that he was dancing to the tune of extremists.

“Most dangerous of all, she has connected the local situation to the killings in France over the cartoon issue, as if Malaysia is no longer safe and is involved in the tumult of war,” he said.

He also criticised Mariam for allegedly saying that Malaysians practised Wahhabism, which he said was a false statement that could confuse Muslims and cause non-Muslims to see them in a negative light.

“This is not the first time that Mariam has written a baseless article,” he added.

FMT spokesman Shahrom Shahruddin said the company would cooperate with the investigating authorities if the need arose, adding that it published Mariam’s article without any malice towards any person or group.


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