By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, April 1: The Sarawak police have acknowledged receiving a report about alleged defamation involving Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, in which remarks about the use of the term ‘kafir’ were taken out of context and widely circulated.
According to national news agency Bernama, Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata has confirmed that an investigation has been initiated.
Yesterday (March 31), Fadhlina stated that misleading accusations and out-of-context quotes about the use of the term ‘kafir’ had been widely disseminated through posters and videos.
On Saturday, March 30, the minister posted a police report on her official Facebook page. Her political secretary filed the report in Kuching over the weekend, on March 30.
Fadhlina wrote: “Something happened today. Hate speech, false accusations, and in fact, threats to safety were received online.
“A police report has been made, for safety reasons. While on the advice of the legal team, all the evidence from posts, comments, and personal messages on various social media are being collected and legal action will be taken.
“Some may have acted intentionally, while others in haste out of ignorance.”
Based on the police report, Fadhlina’s political secretary, Atiqah Syairah Shaharuddin, received photos of the minister with the text “…perkataan kafir pun saya haramkan di rumah. Saya tak ajar anak saya sebut kafir” (The word ‘infidel’ is banned from my home. I never taught my children to say it).
As stated by Atiqah, the edited photographs were widely shared on WhatsApp and Facebook, prompting negative comments and raising concerns about Fadhlina’s safety due to issues of race, religion, and royalty (3R).
The quote attributed to Fadhlina was believed to have been taken from a longer video and shared out of context.
Meanwhile, in another Facebook post, the minister clarified that the viral video was a clip taken from her private meeting with a certain group, which was taken by another party and which she claimed was disseminated with an interpretation to create polemic and defamation. — DayakDaily
