PUTRAJAYA: Police have initiated an investigation into a documentary by news agency Al-Jazeera, which was deemed as derogatory, in its reporting of the Malaysian government's allegedly poor treatment of illegal immigrants in curbing Covid-19.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said the probe was launched following police reports lodged against the international news outlet.
"It is the responsibility of the police to investigate whether there were seditious elements or any offences committed (in the report). It is still under investigation.
"We will call (the media) for questioning in the near future. We would see the (scope) of investigation, whether to be carried out under the Penal Code and the Sedition Act, after calling them in," he told reporters after the launch of the 2020 Malaysian Population and Housing Census, here, today.
He said the federal police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Huzir Mohamed would provide further details on the investigation.
Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in his daily Covid-19 media briefing recently demanded that Al-Jazeera apologise to Malaysians for producing a documentary alleging racism and unequal treatment of illegal immigrants in its course of fighting the virus.
He said the 25-minute documentary, titled "Locked Up In Malaysia's Lockdown" uploaded on July 3, was filmed to portray Malaysia's image in a bad light, disregarding the high standards of journalism ethics.