A 19-year-old student is finding out that a strongly worded remark during a Twitter argument over football could turn out to have serious ramifications.
The form six student was engaged in a debate with two other football-centric Twitter accounts, Perak Power and My Football Liga.
As tempers flared, the boy used a series of words that insulted the Sultan of Perak, and he quickly found himself on the wrong side of the law.
Malaysian Digest reports that he was charged with committing the offense on the night of October 13. He plead guilty to using the social media site to post comments that were “deemed to have hurt the feelings of other people.”
Magistrate Siti Hafiza issued her judgement with an unusual caveat – in addition to handing out an RM5,000 (US$1,200) fine, which should be pretty tough on the teenager’s pocket-money wallet, she also wanted to teach him about “good behavior guided by morality.”
She went on to read: “The offense (insulting the sultan) is liable to imprisonment, but you are still schooling, and as a lesson for your and others, a punitive punishment should be given.”
She then ordered the youth to read aloud the Rukun Negara (National Principles) that were written to foster unity, and respect when independence was declared for the country.
Here’s to hoping that people are smarter about how they use social media.
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