The woman who attempted to attack the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, on the grandstand during the state-level National Day parade last week being remanded at a police station in Ipoh. — Bernama
AS a trainee reporter at the news desk of The Star’s Penang bureau, I was expected to pick up the requirements of the trade in every section, with the first three beats being the courts, hospitals, and police stations.
I had to learn basic legal reporting, beginning with the Magistrate’s Courts before working my way up to the higher courts.
I had to persuade the prose-cuting officers to let me look at the piles of charge sheets, and be able to correctly use terms like defen-dants, prosecutors, counsel (never counsels when referring to lawyers, the editor would bellow), remand, summoned, detained, arrested, injunction, sentences, and appeals, among others.
At the police stations, there were daily briefings, usually by the officer in charge of the police district (OCPD), on the interesting crime cases of the day. But the real excitement was when actual crime broke out, especially robberies, and we could rush to crime scenes.
Now this is where all of us were taught the sacred rule: Our news reports must not mention the race of perpetrators and victims, especially in rape and murder cases, to avoid fanning racial tensions.
The mainstream media has always done this and will continue to do it to prevent racial profiling and maintain social harmony in a multiracial society.
Most mainstream Malaysian media outlets follow these editorial guidelines that advise against including race unless it is specifically relevant to the context of the story.
In investigation reports filed by the police constables, the details such as name, age, address, and race of the suspects are mentioned for investigation purposes but never for publication.
But social media has ignored all these rules. It has become common to see police reports with these details going viral.
Worse, assumptions are made and rumours pushed on online platforms to whip up racial tensions.
When race is mentioned in crime stories, it could reinforce negative stereotypes about certain communities, lead to misinformed generalisations, and stir public resentment or distrust between races.
It is highly regrettable then that Perak PAS assemblyman Hafez Sabri would not even apologise like a true gentleman with genuine remorse after having wrongly claimed on his Facebook page that a Chinese woman had lunged at His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah during a National Day celebration in Perak.
The woman, later revealed to be Malay, is said to have a history of psychiatric treatment and drug- related cases, and had reportedly tried to hug HRH on stage but was immediately restrained by security officers.
In his clarification, the Manjoi assemblyman insisted he was acting out of pure love for the Sultan when he rushed to Facebook with the “breach of security” alert.
According to news reports, he claimed his “only mistake” was trusting an “early source” who fingered the wrong ethnicity. He insisted that he corrected the error within minutes.
But anyone who read his lengthy statement could only conclude he was still using the blame game narrative, with fingers pointed at “irresponsible, malicious actors and people with bad intentions”.
His “apology” lacked remorse and gave the impression that he was more interested in getting out of the tight spot caused by his huge blunder, and he offered no explanation for why he had to mention race. Worse, it was an admission that he jumped on rumours and gave no serious thought to his words, which could inflame racial tensions.
This PAS state lawmaker has not learned from the mistake of Kepala Batas PAS MP Siti Mastura Muhammad, who lost a defama-tion case brought by DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, and Teresa Kok. She had made claims linking them to the late Com-munist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng.
The High Court, which ordered Siti Mastura to pay hefty damages to each of the three for her remarks during a 2023 speech in Kemaman, Terengganu, which was circulated on social media, described her claims as defamatory, baseless, and reckless.
Although the general elections is still two years away, Malaysians would have noticed the huge number of racial postings on social media.
Whether the resentment is manufactured or otherwise, there are many who have blatantly ignored the rules on race, religion, and royalty with their racist postings.
As lawmakers, we would expect them to be more responsible about their statements and actions. Instead, they have opted to fan racial elements – even if it is concerted lies or just hearsay – to win the support of their community while trying to portray themselves as religious personalities.
The Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission must be commended for its swift action. It has reportedly hauled up Hafez, who is also the PAS Youth deputy chief, and three others.
The three had their statements recorded for “false and racially charged” social postings over the incident.
Surely these PAS leaders do not expect the majority of Malaysians to vote them into power, although they like to think they are the government in waiting.
That brings us to the next lesson: We now have influencers who think that everyone can be a journalist.
Many do not realise that it is a widely followed practice not to name suspects until they are formally charged in courts.
There are no laws governing this, and in fact the media has named suspects occasionally, especially well-known personalities, for the sake of public interest, but those arrested need not necessarily be the culprits – that’s why they are called suspects.
However, there are strict laws when it comes to the young. It is legally prohibited to name minors implicated in crimes. It’s not because the media and government want to protect them or their elders, as many ignorant netizens implied in the Zara Qairina Mahathir case.
