A group fighting against the controversial Sedition Act 1948 has launched a campaign urging Malaysian netizens to remove the Inspector-General of Police from micro-blogging service Twitter.
Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan (Movement to Abolish the Sedition Act), or GHAH, has a straightforward plan for this: they want netizens who support the cause to message Twitter directly to let the comapny know that IGP Khalid Abu Bakar has violated its terms of use by harassing other Twitter users via his threats of police action and arrest.
“In an effort to protect Twitter users from this on-going harassment, Malaysians should lodge a report against the IGP’s Twitter handle, @KBAB51, by following the simple steps on the Twitter page for reporting online abuse,” the group said on its Facebook page:
GHAH points to Khalid’s repeated crackdowns of dissenting voices on the popular online blogging service of late, leading to investigations on and arrests of DAP’s Tony Pua, political cartoonist Zunar, and most recently Lawyers for Liberty co-founder Eric Paulsen – who was hauled up on Sunday, the second time this year he’s been arrested for his tweets.
The group goes on to say, “Twitter’s Rules and Policies clearly state users “may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment” and it takes into account if “the reported behaviour is one-sided or includes threats”. The IGP has violated these rules and in banning him, Twitter will be making its platform safer for Malaysians to freely express themselves without fear of persecution by the chief of police.”
More on Coconuts KL:
Lawyers for Liberty’s Eric Paulsen arrested again, over hudud tweets
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