A former Telekom Malaysia employee, now retiree, was fined RM5,000 for spreading false news via his Facebook account.
Kamarzaman Mustafa, 56, plead guilty to knowingly initiating the transmission of misinformation with the intention to annoy another person on at 12:53am, July 19 this year.
Strangely enough, the post is still accessible.
His post, which claimed that pig meat had found its way into, and contaminated, ovine flesh, was shared by one of his Facebook friends, and liked by 13 other users.
It was read at Starbucks, at AEON Alpha Angle at 10am August 1, and subsequently reported.
It is not yet clear who ratted Kamarzaman out for his midnight rant, but this editor for one, would be very interested in the legal avenues one can take to stop people saying dumb, fake stuff on Facebook.
The charge carried with it a maximum fine of RM50,000, or year-long imprisonment.
Kamarzaman did not have legal representation, and asked the court for leniency, complaining of gout, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
And while there are medications available to treat those illnesses, whatever it is that possesses people to post stuff that they KNOW is wrong, has no cure.
