By Niza Shimi
The newly sworn in Unity Government is hitting the ground running. They are loosening tieless necks and going down to the ground checking the price of eggs, rescue efforts at the landslide site in Batang Kali and now to get a good look at rising flood waters in the East Coast.
It’s all hands on deck and nobody is as busy as the new Minister of Communication and Digital, Fahmi Fadzil. He is tackling both the seen and the unseen, so to speak. But at times, his overzealousness is the subject of hilarious memes.
In his first press conference (PC), he answered a phone call (apparently from the Prime Minister’s Office) with such intense mannerisms that the memes just kept coming. The media should not have been made to wait for a phone call and they made their displeasure known on social media.
But then again, Fahmi must have followed the example of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PM10) who couldn’t resist answering a congratulatory call from President of Turkey while reporters were made to wait at his first PC as PM.
As someone tweeted, “How could you answer a call during an event. Not professional. You have to be an example to the rakyat. Wouldn’t you be mad if you were interviewing someone for a job but that candidate answers a call and acts like this.”
Interestingly, Fahmi claims to have been a “victim” of cyberbullying. That’s a first. Considering how much of political campaigning by all parties was done on social media, I wonder if the issue of cyberbullying does not apply in that context.
In his case, he was the butt of memes, not maliciously but hilariously. That’s not often the case in political campaigning, is it?
Now that he is minister, Fahmi is trying to “cool down” social media. I’m not sure what that means. No more funny memes about ministers? That would be a big loss to our entertainment and hilarity. Sometimes we can’t take things too seriously.
Malaysia already has an anti-fake news law, as recorded in the Library of Congress. But this law was repealed under the short-lived Pakatan Harapan government four months after it was gazetted in April 11, 2018.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the so-called “backdoor” Perikatan Nasional government which had been assented by the King, enacted the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021 (EO) that allowed the government to prosecute anyone who spreads misinformation about Covid-19 or the Emergency.
The Emergency has since been lifted on August 2021 and all ordinances is deemed revoked. So, what happens to the anti-fake news law now?
During the fierce campaigning in the run-up to the 15th general elections (GE15) there were provocative postings on TikTok, a popular social media platform among youths, that played up the May 13, 1969 incident.
TikTok itself, as many social media platforms do, have their own community guidelines against hate speech and violent extremism. That is as it should be. But should government begin to interfere in social media platforms? Under what law?
Will Malaysia resort to shutting down social media as some countries do? That would be uncool.
In an article published on July 23, 2021 by the United Nations Human Rights asked a pertinent question, “Moderating online content: fighting harm or silencing dissent”, do laws on online content jeopardise human rights?
According to Peggy Hicks, Director of Thematic Engagement for UN Human Rights, “This happens because governments respond to public pressure by rushing in with simple solutions for complex problems,.”
“Additionally, some governments see this legislation as a way to limit speech they dislike and even silence civil society or other critics,” Hickes added.
Does this include hilarious memes about ministers?
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