Petty trader fined for disrespecting royal institution on social media

The Star

A petty trader was fined RM3,000, in lieu of six months jail, by the Johor Baru Sessions Court after pleading guilty to posting inflammatory and disrespectful statements about the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on X last month.  Judge Hazeelia Muhammad meted out the fine on Zaidi Mat Sah after hearing the plea on Wednesday (Jan 8).  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yymrvfex  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00A petty trader was fined 3,000 ringgit in lieu of six months' jail by the Johor Bahru

00:07Sessions Court after pleading guilty to posting inflammatory and disrespectful statements

00:13about the young Dipertuan Agong-on-X last month.

00:17Judge Hazilya Muhammad meted out the fine on Zaidi Mat Sah after hearing the plea on

00:23Wednesday.

00:24The 56-year-old was charged with uploading a post that was said to be seditious in nature,

00:30disrespecting the king and tarnishing the image of the royal institution.

00:35The act was committed at a house in Taman Sutera at 5.45am on December 29 last year.

00:43The post was seen by a complainant who lodged a police report on December 30.

00:49The charge was framed under Section 4, subsection 1A of the Sedition Act 1948, which carries

00:57a fine of up to 5,000 ringgit, a maximum three-year prison sentence or both, upon conviction.

01:05During the proceeding, State Prosecution Director Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Latif requested a heavier

01:11penalty for the accused due to the severity of his action, as a lesson not only to Zaidi

01:17but also to the public.

01:19Zaidi, who was unrepresented, requested a lighter penalty and hoped that he would not

01:24be jailed, as he is taking care of his wife, child and an elderly mother, besides siblings

01:30who are disabled.

01:32He also apologized for his mistake and said that he had not created the post but only

01:37re-posted the statement.

01:40He added that he was not aware that the statement involved three R sentiments and regretted

01:45his action.

01:46The accused paid the fine.

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