IGP: Seditious Quote Linked To Hannah Yeoh Was Made By A Site Named 'Muafakat Nasional'
The website domain was registered in October 2019 for a period of a year.
By Sadho Ram — 12 Jul 2020, 12:55 PM
A website named 'Muafakat National' has been identified as the source of a 'seditious' quote that was linked to Hannah Yeoh, according to Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador
The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), the IGP told Bernama at Bukit Aman on Saturday, 11 July, has now identified the suspect who uploaded the 'seditious' quote which was wrongly attributed to the former deputy women, family, and community development (KPWKM) minister.
Police investigations showed that the quote had nothing to do with Yeoh, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Segambut, but was made by a website using the'muafakatnasional.net' domain name.
"Investigations show that the posting which has become the fact of the issue in this case came from a poster made by 'muafakatnasional.net' and not the Twitter or Facebook of Hannah Yeoh," he said.
Police have since taken the suspect's statement and also seized a gadget that they believe was used to upload the poster with the quote
The investigation papers will be sent to the Attorney-General's Chambers for further action.
The case is being investigated under three separate charges.
Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 for seditious tendencies, Section 505(c) of the Penal Code for having intentions or for disrupting communities or ethnic groups, and Section 233 of Communications and Multimedia Act 1988 for improper use of network facilities or network services.
These are the same charges under which Hannah Yeoh was investigated.
She was called in by Bukit Aman for questioning on 23 June after PDRM launched an investigation into her March 2020 tweet, in which she wondered about the fate of the National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage under her successor Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff of PAS.
This is the poster with the quote that was linked to Yeoh
The Segambut MP shared it on her Facebook page on 11 March — while clearly specifying that it a false statement — to alert the public about it, asking those sharing it to stop slandering her.
Who is behind 'muafakatnational.net'?
According to multiple checks performed by SAYS, the website has been registered by Web Commerce Communications Limited (WebNIC), a Singapore-based technology service company.
WebNIC, an ICANN accredited registrar, also has an office in Kuala Lumpur.
The 'muafakatnasional.net' domain was registered in October 2019 for a period of a year.
The "about us" section of the website appears empty along with social media pages from its "follow us" section. Separately, a Facebook page with the same name appears active.
The website is named after the Muafakat Nasional political pact between the PAS and UMNO.
On Muafakat Nasional's Wikipedia page, the Facebook page linked is the same one that is active since September 2019. The last post on the Facebook page was on 3 July 2020.
However, our checks showed that the Muafakat Nasional Facebook page doesn't appear to have shared any posts from the 'muafakatnasional.net' domain in its timeline since it has been active.
