Blogger and Malaysian Twitter personality Effi Nazrel Saharudin, better known by his Twitter handle @1Obefiend, has been fined RM10,000 for posting two tweets that contained offensive remarks about the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Effi’s lawyer Syahredzan Johan told The Malay Mail Online‘s Zurairi AR his client was fined RM5,000 for each of the two charges after he pleaded guilty, but could still be imprisoned for up to three months should he default on the payment of the fine.
The decision was made by Justice Zulqarnain Hassan at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.
In June, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) stated that Effi had been charged under Section 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for the offending tweets.
Section 233 states that “the online transmission of any comment, request, suggestion, or other communication which is ‘obscene, indecent, false or offensive’ with intent to ‘annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person'” is a chargeable offence.
Effi had previously claimed trial to the charges, and had been released on RM4,000 bail.
Effi’s two “offensive tweets” were posted on June 1, 2013 on his personal Twitter account. That account is currently set to private.
The first tweet is as follows: “they have a point. Agong is just a puppet. Down with monarchy. A waste of rakyats money” in reply to users @IzranSalleh and @norfaiz.
In the second tweet, Effi asks: “Soalan serius. Rakyat bayar elaun dan istana agong. Technically speaking he works for us. So why do we put him on a tandu?”
(Translation: “Serious question. The people pay for the palace and allowance of the Agong. Technically speaking, he works for us. So why do we put him on a pedestal?”)
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