Should you sue your online haters for defamation or complain to the MCMC?

It’s easy for people to talk poo poo about you online. After all, what’re you gonna do to them, punch them? While you might not be able to actually sock them in the jaw through your monitor or your smartphone screen, you can sue them for defamation.

That appears to be what our Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin is doing – he’s initiated defamation suits against former Umno supreme council member, Lokman Noor Adam and a yet-unnamed Islamic preacher over a series of online posts between Oct 20 last year and Jan 10 this year. Khairy alleged that the posts were defamatory cuz essentially, they were talking poo poo about both the national jabby jabby efforts and KJ’s jabby jabby status.

Having read the title, you’re probably wondering where Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) comes in. Well, since Lokman Noor Adam and Mr. Preacher here talked poo poo online, Khairy also had the option to report them to the MCMC. Before that tho, let’s talk about the legal bullcrap that is defamation in Malaysia.

How does defamation work in Malaysia?

Things can get REAL complicated with defamation laws, so we’ll be covering how it works in broad strokes. Don’t sue us pls.

Basically, defamation is said to have happened when someone says or writes/posts stuff that may lower another person’s reputation in the public eye. There’s two types of defamation: libel which consists of things that are put down in black and white (think emails, social media posts, WhatsApp messages, etc) and slander which covers spoken words and actions (conversations or gestures).

On top of that, someone who’s getting pinned for defamation can be brought to court in a civil suit or a criminal charge. That’s cuz Malaysia’s defamation laws can be found in two places – the Defamation Act 1957 and the Penal Code.

In Khairy’s case, he’s alleging that Lokman Noor Adam and the preacher have made libelous statements questioning Khairy’s jabby jabby status, so he’s taking them to court in a civil suit.

Alright, now let’s see what would happen if KJ chose to report the lads to the MCMC.

What can the MCMC do about online poo poo talk?

MCMC’s proverbial Infinity Gaunlet is the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA). If KJ complained to the MCMC via the proper channels, Lokman Noor Adam and the preacher could be found guilty of committing an offence under section 233 of the CMA for their supposedly inflammatory social media posts:

Section 233 CMA 1998 – Improper use of network facilities or network service, etc.

 
233. (1) A person who –

 
(a) by means of any network facilities or network service or applications service knowingly –

 
(i) makes, creates or solicits; and

 
(ii) initiates the transmission of, any comment, request, suggestion or other communication which is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person; or

 
(b) initiates a communication using any applications service, whether continuously, repeatedly or otherwise, during which communication may or may not ensue, with or without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person at any number or electronic address, commits an offence.

Long story short, the requirements to kena under section 233 of the CMA isn’t high – there only needs to be proof that you created and transmitted any form of communication which is considered to be offensive and done with malicious intent. If both the men actually kena under section 233, they could end up in jail for up to a year and/or shell out RM50K in fines.

Why did Khairy choose to take them to court instead of reporting them to the MCMC?

Well first off, we don’t know whether KJ reported these guys to the MCMC. Maybe he did. This is pure conjecture, but we think Khairy chose to sue because:

a) He stands to get compensation in the form of sweet, sweet ringgits if he wins the case; and

b) The lawsuit sends a preeeetty strong message to other people who talks poo poo about the whole jabby jabby thing online.

Circling back to whether you should sue your online haters, it really depends. Do you have the money and time to hire a lawyer to go through the grueling process that is the Malaysian justice system? Or do you just need the offending content taken down from whatever platform it’s on? If it’s worth it, why not both, right?