KUALALUMPUR: Police have formed a task force to monitor and take action against those who fan racial and religious sentiments on social media.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Zinin said the team comprised personnel from the Criminal Investigation and Commercial Crime Investigation Departments.
“The task force is headed by Criminal Investigation Department deputy director (Investigation and Law) Datuk Amar Singh.
“Its primary role is to address problems on social media,” he said after closing the Op Selamat 5/2014 operation at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan here yesterday.
The task force was set up earlier this year after numerous reports were made of racial and religious hate postings.
Among the divisions involved in the task force are the Cyber Crime Unit, intelligence from the Research and Planning Unit and Serious Crimes Division, as well as officers from the Bukit Aman Public Relations Department.
“We are working with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to identify and locate errant users through Internet Protocol addresses,” said Bakri.
He said police would not hesitate to use the Sedition Act against those found to be inciting racial tension and disharmony.
“With the borderless nature of the Internet, police are having problems in detaining such people because of the lack of evidence.
“It is very hard to prove such cases because the Internet is wide.
“Before we can detain them, we need hard evidence to bring them to justice.
“This is why we will use the Act against those who touch on racial sensitivities that may disrupt social harmony in the country.”
Bakri said police had never been selective in their investigations by prioritising any race or religion.
“However, the duration to complete an investigation differs and is dependent on many factors, especially information that can be gathered.
“Several steps need to be taken to prosecute irresponsible users of social media, including identifying the real owner of an account.”
In some cases, said Bakri, such users claimed that their accounts had been hacked by a third party.
“Police are committed in our investigations.
“We are not racially biased as claimed by some parties, who say we are soft on non-Muslims who insult Islam and Muslims.”
He said there were Netizens who had been charged on numerous occasions for sedition and defamation, based on the content of their postings, under existing laws.
“While we enjoy freedom of speech, it comes with a certain responsibility.”
Bakri was commenting on suggestions that social media users in the country register their accounts with MCMC to make it easier to identify them.
He said police welcomed the suggestion.
Last week, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the government would study whether it was necessary to bar access to Facebook, following cases of abuse involving the social media website.
He said the ministry was conducting studies to gather public views on the matter.
On Hari Raya’s Op Selamat 5/2014, Bakri said the campaign had achieved its goal of reducing road fatalities.
“There was a decline in road fatalities during the Hari Raya season this year of 15.9 per cent and a reduction of overall fatalities to 18.8 per cent.
“Although the number of accidents during Op Selamat 5, from July 21 to Aug 4, showed an increase of 3.7 per cent, we achieved our aim of reducing traffic fatalities.”