Jails will be full, says Marina if MCMC carries out its threat

Marina Mahathir and Twitter users wonder if MCMC had thought through the statement before going public

KUALA LUMPUR: Social activist Marina Mahathir today lambasted the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) warning to netizens that they could be arrested for speculating on 1MDB and spreading doctored images and unverified news.

The Star Online reported that Marina herself took to Twitter to voice her concerns on the MCMC’s warning. Her tweet “Jails will be full,” suggested that the prevalence of the activity among Malaysians would only lead to overflowing jails.

Her sentiments were also shared by other Twitter users, who wondered if the MCMC had thought through their statement before making it public. Several Twitter users asked if the MCMC had stopped to consider the personnel and space needs required to carry out the threats they were making.

The statement by the MCMC appears to be in response to the hashtag #1MDBMovies which started trending on Twitter as movie aficionados and politically aware Twitter users took to satire and started tweeting titles of popular movies that had been cleverly modified with 1MDB references.

The MCMC’s public statement on Thursday cautioned that under Section 211 or Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 the dissemination of items such as modified photos, unverified news and speculation on 1MDB over social media outlets such as the mobile messaging service WhatsApp, was an offence.

Offenders could be fined not more than RM50,000 and/or jailed for not more than one year”.