A videographer attached to the Penang government has been called up for questioning by police over her tweet allegedly related to the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9.
This follows Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein's statement that the police will continue to investigate all cases related to the rally for electoral reforms in Kuala Lumpur.
Chan Lilian, a mother of four, had sent out a tweet suggesting that all Christians should march to protest their "persecution" 10 days before the Bersih rally, and this resulted in a police report lodged against her by Blog House secretary Tony Yew.
Chan, a popular blogger, will be meeting an investigating officer from Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, as well as a cyber crime personnel at 5.30pm today at the Northeast District Police headquarters in Penang.
On the night of June 29, Chan had tweeted: I think all Christians shud march for all the persecution they had done to us and our Lord. Don't you think so? I go sleep now, bye-bye. :)
Yew replied to her tweet: Don't turn a political statement to a religious one. I am demanding a retraction or else I am making a police report tomorrow.
Chan asked: Oh really? What political? Where?
Yew did not respond. However, two days later, Yew lodged the police report against Chan in Brickfields.
In his report, Yew alleged that Chan's tweet contained seditious elements, which directly incited Christians to go against the government for alleged persecution.
"As a citizen who also professes the Christian faith, I am of the opinion that the the action of the individual behind this twitter ID has the ability to threaten the security of the nation," said Yew in his police report.
This was followed by a blog post titled 'Don't push it', where Yew lamented that he had seen Chan's tweet being retweeted and was disappointed that there were people out there happy to spread the word.
"What more if you work for a chief minister? Should we, the rest of us who want to move forward just stand by on the side and hope that the best prevail?" he had asked in his blog.
Yew had also professed support for Prime Minister Najib Razak for producing "great growth gains in trying times", while condemning Opposition Leader Anwar Inrahim for "tripping all over his folly".
Sharing her thoughts before going to bed
Chan, who was previously a Malaysiakini citizen journalist, said her Twitter account was restricted to her followers, and Yew was one of the 900 who could read her tweets as she had added him unknowingly.
"He has abused this privilege of reading my random thoughts which I tweeted and (had) used it for his vile motive, reason known only to himself," she added.
"I am a Catholic Christian and hence, I do express my faith publicly. On June 29, I had share some random thoughts just before I went to sleep," she stressed.
Chan denied there was anything political in her tweet, saying she made no reference to Bersih 2.0 or the government when she asked Christians to march.
She said she did not promote Bersih 2.0, neither did she use a yellow badge which symbolises support for the outlawed coalition on her Twitter avatar.
Chan added that Yew's claim that she worked for the CM was untrue as she was merely employed as a temporary contract staff by the Penang state government.
"My question is, why would the secretary of an organisation that is supposed to 'prevent investigation by authorities as well as bloggers being charged', trying to harrass and intimidate me?" she queried.
Chan was referring to the information posted by the Blog House on its official website and to the recent proposal by the government to include the group in the controversial Media Consultative Council as a representative of the new media.
"Because of this vile and vindictive action by Yew, I have to prepare my little children - one of whom is only eight years old - on what to do in case the police come to 'take mummy away'," she said.
"I have to provide my older children a list of things to do, like whom to call, and how to cope."
Chan said she had earlier received several calls from the police, and that they had even tried to look for her in a Kuala Lumpur car showroom.
She had earlier posted a photo of a car on her blog where the police traced the vehicle's registration address which led them to the showroom.
"This has caused great embarassment as three police personnel went to look for me 'related to my involvement in Bersih'. This was related to me by the showroom manager," she lamented. - Malaysiakini
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