CIJ: Unacceptable to target media for quoting DIGP verbatim

 

The Centre for Independent Journalism has described the Home Ministry action against two media outlets for reporting the verbatim comments of Deputy Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani (above) as “disturbing”.

“It is not acceptable for the media to be targeted for reporting verbatim on the deputy IGP’s statements,” said CIJ executive director Wathshlah G Naidu.

Yesterday, the Home Ministry said it will summon Malaysiakini and China Press for highlighting Acryl Sani’s comment about the rape threat against a teenager.

Acryl Sani had said: “The second report is regarding what may be a joke from her classmate, which she couldn’t accept.”

The police had said the “may be a joke” comment did not mean police were taking the case lightly and merely referred to an aspect of the investigation.

“Regardless, there was no necessity for the deputy IGP to describe the investigation regarding the schoolgirl’s complaint that contained a rape threat in that manner.

“As reported, neither in the teenager’s police report nor the voice message of the threat of rape by a schoolmate of the student was it ever stated that the rape was a joke.

“Speculating that it may have been a joke shifts the attention and responsibility from the real threat of rape and alludes to victim-blaming,” said Wathshlah.

Wathshlah said the press should not be subjected to being summoned by the government or threatened with action simply because the authorities are dissatisfied with the manner in which a report was presented.

“It is precisely these kinds of actions from the authorities that contributed to Malaysia’s precipitous fall of 18 spots on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

“It will further serve the police, Home Ministry and country better if all public officials attend regular gender sensitisation training which upholds international human rights standards,” said Wathshlah.

She also renewed calls for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

Meanwhile, Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh questioned why the Home Ministry was getting involved in the issue.

“Is it going to be a norm in the future for the Home Ministry to start investigations instead of the police?” he said.

He also noted that the police did not deny that Acryl Sani had made such a statement.

“Since the Home Ministry is going to start investigating as reported, it should summon Acryl Sani as well to confirm if he did or did not make such remarks and if so, in what context they were made, particularly since he himself has not denied it to date.

“The police might claim that the context of Acryl Sani’s speech suggests that this so-called joke was an aspect of its investigations but this certainly does not, in any way, indicate any wrongdoing on the part of Malaysiakini or China Press if they simply reported what he said, since he did not clarify the purported context in which he said it,” Ramkarpal said. - Mkini