MIRI: A man was jailed for 10 months and fined RM50,000 by the Sessions Court here today after he pleaded guilty to posting a grossly offensive comment on Facebook relating to Islam and the late Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last April.
Judge Afidah Abdul Rahman imposed the sentence on John Mule Alai, 48, who was unrepresented, after the charge was read and explained to him and he admitted to the offence.
He was charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA 1998) for knowingly initiating the transmission of a grossly offensive communication using the Facebook account “Bat Tuo Sai”.
He posted the comment in the comments section of a Facebook post by Astro Awani regarding the burial arrangements of Abdullah, Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister, with the intention of annoying others.
The offence was committed at about 10.15 am on April 15, 2025, at an unnumbered hut on the banks of Sungai Teru near Ladang Sungai Lelak in the Marudi district. The comment was detected at about 11 pm the same day at Level 8, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Tower 1, Cyberjaya, Selangor.
During mitigation, he told the court it was his first offence and asked for a non-custodial sentence, adding that he had no family members and was facing financial difficulties.
However, deputy public prosecutors Nazrul Nizam Mohd Zameri and Nur Nazhzilah Mohammad Hashim argued that public interest must take precedence over the personal interests of the accused.
They described the comment as extremely offensive and malicious, as it mocked a sacred Quranic verse and publicly insulted the late national leader during news coverage of his passing.
The prosecution said the act constituted a grave insult to Islam and could provoke public sensitivities while causing distress to the bereaved family and members of the public who respected the former leader.
They also urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, noting that similar cases decided in 2020, 2022 and 2024 resulted in imprisonment terms of about six months.
The prosecution further highlighted that amendments to the CMA had increased the maximum fine tenfold and doubled the maximum imprisonment term.
After considering the accused's mitigation and the aggravating factors presented by the prosecution, the court sentenced him to 10 months’ jail starting from today and a RM50,000 fine, in default three months’ imprisonment.
