Stop harassing MP Teo with meaningless law

By P Ramakrishnan

Ramakrishnan demands to know why Teo is being investigated now? Why waste precious police time and money on this case? She uploaded someone else’s graphic drawing four years ago. It did not cause any issues then. So, why now?

It comes as an extreme shock to Malaysians that police are investigating Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching over a posting she shared over social media way back in April 2017. They are springing into action after more than four years of inaction. It’s unbelievable!

She is being probed under Section 504 of the Penal Code (intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.)

While it may be reluctantly conceded that at that time of posting in April 2017, there might have been some vaguely valid reason to presume that it could have likely provoked a breach of the peace, now more than four years later there is absolutely no ground for that presumption.

The last four years had established that that posting did not provoke a breach of the peace, even much less the tendency to do so. There wasn’t even a ripple!

This being the case, why is Teo then being investigated now? There is no justifiable ground to waste precious police time on this meaningless investigation. Can the police convince the general public that there is a need to pursue this case after more than four years?

Teo’s posting was about freedom of expression, a universal inalienable human right that must be upheld – not trampled upon! She ought to be congratulated that she defended the freedom of expression as to be expected of any decent human being. She stood with the Federal Constitution and defended a right conferred by the Constitutionand the 73-year-old United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

The police should turn their attention to outstanding cases that are waiting to be solved. What happened to Pastor Raymond Koh missing since 2017, Ruth Sitepu and her husband Joshua Hilmy who disappeared several months earlier? Who killed Teoh Beng Hock – a 13-year case oftragic inaction? What happened to Indira Gandhi’s daughter – a mother grieving daily also for 13 years?

Likewise, there are many unsolved cases challenging the expertise of the police force for resolution. This is where their attention should be directed to.

The Malaysian public calls upon the police to desist from hounding and harassing Teo and appeals to them to put their time to good use in pursuing unresolved crimes – instead of wasting their time in unproductive efforts.

(The views expressed are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rebuilding Malaysia.)

13 January 2022