Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim has criticised the police for arresting journalist Rex Tan under the Sedition Act, highlighting what he described as selective enforcement by contrasting the case with a PAS lawmaker who faced no action.
Zaid pointed to Pengkalan Chepa MP Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, who last October posted on Facebook an entry titled “Learning from the history of Palestine: Let us not repeat the same mistake”, which portrayed Malaysia’s non-Muslim and non-bumiputera citizens as threats to Malay-Muslim interests.
“It’s double-headed hypocrisy. Amanah was insistent that Marzuk be investigated, but no investigation commenced. Yet the police were very prompt on Tan,” Zaid told Malaysiakini.
In the post, Marzuk claimed that the Palestinian people had accepted Jewish immigrants on humanitarian grounds, only to later become victims of oppression and be driven out of their homeland.
He further alleged that similar signs are now emerging in Malaysia, with the economic sector increasingly dominated by non-Muslims and non-bumiputera, including ownership of major retail outlets, key companies, and strategic land.
Turning to Tan’s case, Zaid said the journalist’s arrest for posing a “silly and insensitive” question on race relations during a public lecture amounted to an excessive response.
“He was certainly not thinking through when he posed the question… But he is not a known racial agitator or one who made lengthy speeches to incite. His statement, whilst upsetting many in the audience, could not have caused public disorder or racial strife,” he added.
Tan, who resigned from Free Malaysia Today (FMT) yesterday, had asked a question said to carry racial overtones at a lecture in Kuala Lumpur featuring UK politician George Galloway, titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors”.
He was arrested past midnight after he was summoned to the Dang Wangi police headquarters and is also being investigated under Section 505(c) of the Penal Code, which relates to making statements intended to cause alarm or fear.
He is also being investigated under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA).
Apology should suffice
Zaid noted that both Tan and FMT had apologised for the incident, which triggered widespread backlash on social media.
“That’s enough, we all make mistakes, including the police, and a contrition and a genuine apology should suffice,” he said.
In his apology, Tan acknowledged that he had posed a “poorly constructed” question that was irrelevant to the event and lacked 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 said.
Tan also appealed to the public to refrain from targeting FMT Media Sdn Bhd 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.
Malaysian Media Council deputy chairperson Premesh Chandran likewise criticised Tan’s arrest as punitive.
“He was already prepared to cooperate with the investigation; detention is not necessary,” he said.
Earlier, the media council had condemned the doxxing, harassment, and intimidation of journalists in the aftermath of the backlash against Tan. - Mkini
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