The IGP should not be Twitter police
Press Statement
13 February 2015
Lawyers for Liberty views with extreme concern the IGP’s self-appointed role as Twitter police – patrolling and being trigger happy on Twittersphere, deciding on a whim what can or cannot be published and coming down hard on opposition and dissidents.
What is more shocking is that the Twitter policing is usually done at the behest of pro-Umno cyber-troopers and trolls who urge him to take action on particular tweets. Needless to say, it is unbecoming for the IGP to be seemingly taking instructions from pro-Umno cyber-troopers and trolls when he should be neutral when dealing with them whose work is obviously politically motivated and done in bad faith.
On the other hand, these pro-Umno cyber-troopers and trolls have a free reign to publish anything including hate speech and incitement to violence without fear of criminal investigation from the police or the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission – surely a case of double standards and selective prosecution.
As the top police officer in the country, we urge the IGP to display more professionalism and care on Twitter and not to abuse his powers. We are highly doubtful that his methods are in compliance with PDRM’s social media policies and standard operating procedures.
The IGP should discard his abhorrent attitude towards civil liberties and respect the people’s right to legitimate dissent and challenge the government of the day and its apparatus.
We urge the IGP and PDRM to go back to basics – to be a professional, impartial and competent police force in maintaining law and order, preventing and detecting real crimes and apprehending real criminals rather than be concerned with policing social media or politically motivated matters.
Released by:
Eric Paulsen
Executive Director
Lawyers for Liberty
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