Nurrul Izzah, Syed Saddiq call for cops to release Twitter user @bumilangit from remand for unearthing hate speech online
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Several politicians have demanded the police release Twitter user Zulfadzli Halim, who had exposed racially and religiously divisive content on social media throughout the 15th general election.
PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar said that the authorities should be careful when arresting or making allegations against the public.
“It is our shared responsibility to bring negative, extremist and racial campaigning materials to the attention of the authorities... Justice for @bumilangit,” she said in a post, referring to Zulfadzli’s Twitter account.
Meanwhile, Malaysia United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman called for solidarity with Zulfadzli.
“I pray for the best. May he be released as soon as possible,” he said.
Other politicians standing by Zulfadzli’s side include PKR Youth chief Adam Adli Abdul Halim who asked the police to explain why a remand was necessary, and former Kangar MP Noor Amin Ahmad who “guaranteed” that Zulfadzli was a good person.
Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh also tweeted the #BebaskanBumilangit hashtag in solidarity.
Zulfadzli, who goes by the Twitter handle @bumilangit and nickname Jon, was arrested by the police yesterday.
One of his last posts on Twitter was an announcement that he was on the way to the Ampang Jaya police headquarters, and was told that he had allegedly uploaded a post that was insulting to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong — although he was not informed of which post this was.
Yesterday, police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said that Zulfadzli was being investigated under the Sedition Act and Communications and Multimedia Act, and that he would be remanded until November 26.
Zulfadzli had previously reuploaded content onto Twitter from TikTok, warning against the propagating racially divisive characteristics such as the use of May 13 while displaying images of weapons.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission later released a statement warning against reposting hate speech or offensive content that has been removed by social media platforms for going against their guidelines.
Prior to this, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani told social media users to stop misusing the platforms to spread content that is considered provocative in nature because it will cause public disturbances.
Social media users have pointed to TikTok posts warning about a possible repeat of the deadly May 13, 1969 race riots found on TikTok with hundred of thousand of views, most of them directed against supporters of Pakatan Harapan.
