DAP: Halt action against Mkini, don't blame vehicle when driver causes accident

(Editor's note: Following legal advice, Malaysiakini has disabled the commenting feature for this article.)

DAP has criticised the contempt of court proceedings initiated by Attorney-General Idrus Harun against Malaysiakini and the news portal's editor-in-chief Steven Gan.

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said Malaysiakini should not be blamed for its readers' comments.

"While some of the comments are abhorrent in nature and should not be condoned, the AG must not attempt to penalise Malaysiakini or Steven Gan for those comments.

"Action, if any, should be initiated against the commentators of those comments instead of Malaysiakini.

"This is tantamount to blaming the vehicle for the accident when the driver is responsible," he added in a statement this evening.

The contempt proceedings related to comments made on Malaysiakini's website by its readers regarding the judiciary.

The Federal Court yesterday granted leave for the action to proceed.

However, Lim said this should be withdrawn to uphold media freedom.

"The AG is placing an onerous responsibility on media websites by making them liable for what others say.

"For all intents and purposes, act against those who made the irresponsible comments but not against a news portal that did not endorse those views,” he added.

Meanwhile, Lim also called on police to halt the investigation against DAP lawmaker Hannah Yeoh.

"The investigation is an attempt to silence and intimidate her from speaking out on certain issues or criticise the Perikatan Nasional government," he claimed.

The police are probing the owner of a "Hannah Yeoh" Facebook account under the Sedition Act for allegedly producing a seditious and inflammatory post.

However, the former deputy women, family and community development minister reiterated that the post, attributed to her, is fake.

The Segambut MP is also being probed over a genuine tweet dated March 9 enquiring about the fate of the National Strategic Plan to Address the Causes of Underage Marriage under her successor Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff.

Inspector-General of Police Hamid Bador had assured that the police are just following procedures and this was not an attempt to intimidate politicians.

According to Lim, the authorities should also act against errant PN supporters.

"The authorities should be consistent by also acting firmly against pro-PN activists who spread lies against Pakatan Harapan leaders, such as the lies against me and my son being arrested at the Singapore International Airport with RM2 million in cash,” he added.

In March, it was reported that the child of a “senior Pakatan Harapan leader” had allegedly been nabbed after he attempted to bring in RM2 million into Singapore without proper verification.

Controversial blog Malaysia Today later alleged that the young man involved was Lim’s son.

Hamid said this was not true.