Journalist arrested under Sedition Act over question at Gaza lecture

 

Police have arrested journalist Rex Tan after he posed a question that was said to carry racial overtones during a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur featuring UK politician George Galloway, titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors”.

Tan, who resigned from FMT yesterday, was detained past midnight after he was summoned to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters.

His lawyer Rajsurian Pillai confirmed that Tan, 31, was arrested under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act.

Malaysiakini understands that the case would be investigated by the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters.

After drawing widespread backlash on social media, Tan had apologised for posing the question, describing it as “poorly constructed” and acknowledging that it failed to “take into account its relevance to the event” and was asked without sufficient consideration of its sensitive nature.

“Most importantly, I severely regret my mention of the Chinese and Malay races, which could and should have been left out entirely,” he added.

Tan, who admitted falling short of the professionalism expected of him as a journalist, appealed to the public to refrain from unduly attacking FMT Media and his loved ones.

“I also hope the public will take into consideration that my question did not use the term ‘apartheid’ nor suggest the parallel with the present condition of Chinese Malaysians. I clarified this during my second opportunity to speak, when I stated: ‘I’m not comparing the current state of Malaysian Chinese to Palestinians. It’s unimaginable’,” he added.

Responding to the arrest, Malaysian Media Council deputy chairperson Premesh Chandran said that while Tan had made a mistake, arresting and detaining a journalist is “going overboard and punitive”. 

“He was already prepared to cooperate with the investigation, detention is not necessary,” he said.

Earlier, the media council denounced the doxxing, harassment, and intimidation of journalists in the wake of the backlash against Tan.

FMT also issued an apology, stating that it was unaware of the journalist’s intent to pose the question and did not endorse his remarks. - Mkini