The abuse of social media

Freedom of expression is an undeniable right but Malaysians must also respect the laws and abide by them.

SHE was supposed to be a manager in a cosmetics company but what she posted on Facebook has been deemed as pretty ugly by many Malaysians.
Numerous police reports have been lodged against the woman who allegedly insulted the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah over his official birthday speech, aired live on television last Friday.
The main thrust of the King’s message was to urge Malaysians to accept the results of the 13th General Election and move on.
The affront against the King began with her status update asking if anyone was listening to the speech and the expression “Grrr!” denoting anger.
Four of her friends responded, adding to the insults which among other things, included vomit and inference to payments to a Swiss bank account.
The woman, was arrested yesterday under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and is expected to be charged under the Sedition Act 1948.
While there is much anger against the woman over the postings which were regarded as “kurang ajar” (insolent or disrespectful), there were also those who have defended her, citing freedom of speech.
Two weeks ago, the MCMC tracked down a man who insulted the Sultan of Terengganu on his Facebook page. He was arrested and is presumably now out on bail pending trial.
MCMC chairman Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi said: “The laws of the nation are enforced whether it is offline or online. A crime is still a crime, even if it’s on social media.”
Such warnings aside, it certainly appears that we have come to a stage where nothing is sacred anymore in the lawless frontiers of cyberspace.
Hate speech, insults and mockery have become par for the course in posts and comments.
Does the Rukun Negara, the principles of our national ideology, matter anymore in politically partisan Malaysia?
It was instituted by royal proclamation on Aug 31, 1970, as a solution for national unity, a year after the tragedy of May 13.
As learned at school, the principles are: Belief in God, Loyalty to King and Country, Upholding the Constitution, Rule of Law and Good Behaviour and Morality.
But based on today’s reality, the tenets are almost utopian.
Even those who profess to believe in God and wear their religions on their sleeves, spew hate against others who do not share their political views in FB posts and tweets.
Loyalty to King? It is more like loyalty to the political side that one supports. Uphold the Constitution?
Rule of Law? Even lawyers don’t seem to believe in these things anymore.
As for Good Behaviour and Morality, the amount of abhorrence for one side can counter any level of bad behaviour or immorality on the other, regardless of glaring video evidence.
Bad behaviour is rampant in cyberspace because people think they can post whatever they want under the cloak of anonymity.
And as much as one political party would like to dispute, cybertroopers are real.
Let’s not deny that disinformation and propaganda have become a crucial part of Malaysian politics.
Logically, not all information online should be accepted as the truth but the reality is, not many people bother to check.
Disinformation rules okay because there are more “sheeple” than people out there.
With the extent of information overload, people tend to process messages more quickly and, wherever possible, by taking mental shortcuts.
As the Institute for Propaganda Analysis notes, disinformation experts rely on shortcuts, especially those that shut off rational thought.
They advance this by agitating emotions, exploiting insecurities and bending the rules of logic.
The handiest ploy of the propagandist is the use of outright lies. And the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.
Like 40,000 Bangladeshis being flown in to vote and such.
Making generalisations is another. Sweeping assumptions can help blur the facts or the topics in question. This tactic can be used to debase entire groups of people.
Name-calling is also a common trick. Just insult those who disagree by calling them stupid, traitor to the race, etc, or question their character or motives instead of focusing on the issues.
The sticking of repugnant labels on a person or group makes it easier for people to reject them on the basis of the tag instead of proper evaluation.
But the spreaders of disinformation are best at playing people’s emotions and the most exploited one is hate.
Hatred is also the easiest emotion to take advantage of against a particular political, racial or religious group.
The incitements have been going on for years in our cyberspace and also spread via emails and SMSes.
Now that even royalty is not being spared from insults, the new Communication and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek has pledged to review all aspects of the laws pertaining to abuse of the social media and use new technologies to check the abuse.
It won’t be an easy task but it’s a start.
While freedom of expression is an undeniable right, people must also respect and abide by the laws or face the consequences.