Energy company not amused by parody blog posting
September 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under News Bites
In a climate where freedom of speech has been under attack, Malaysian blogger, Irwan Abdul Rahman, has been charged in a sessions court in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, recently for a parody posting on his blog aimed at national energy giant, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
His posting on 25 March this year, “TNB to sue WWF over Earth Hour”, caused the company to file a formal complaint with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) about a week later on 2 April, accusing Irwan of posting an offensive article.
Irwan, or “Hassan Skodeng”, is charged with using the Internet to send false comments, with the intention of hurting the feelings of others (section 233 (1) (a) Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Act).
His blog is on nose4news.wordpress.com, said to be modelled on the Onion, a US-based satire website. Irwan told reporters that he had removed the article about two days after the posting.
According to news reports, his defence counsel, Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos, said this is the first time a blogger is being charged under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for posting a parody or satire in his or her site.
If found guilty, Irwan, who is on the editorial team of The Malay Mail can face a fine or imprisonment or both.
