TAWAU: Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (PHRS) on Friday lodged two police reports against a Facebook account owner identified as “Farah Yusuff” over allegedly defamatory social media posts linking police arrests to the party’s top leadership.
PHRS Women chief Norazian Dumit and PHRS Supreme Council member Jany Sahak lodged the reports at the Tawau district police headquarters after describing the posts as malicious, defamatory and baseless, and aimed at tarnishing the image of PHRS leaders and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).
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Norazian said she was shocked to come across the posts while browsing Facebook at about 8pm on Thursday.
She added that the account owner had uploaded photographs of the party leadership alongside images of police arrests and court detainees, which she claimed amounted to unsubstantiated allegations.
She also expressed regret that a photograph of the former Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah was included, saying it had affected the image of the Sabah Seri Kinabalu Istana Negeri.
Jany described the act as irresponsible and intended to incite the public by creating negative perceptions against party members.
“This is a rude and disrespectful act, especially since PHRS has always taken the approach of not entertaining negative news on social media.
“We want stern action to be taken against the individual concerned as a lesson to all parties not to misuse social media and hide behind fake accounts to spread slander,” he said.
He added that the party would also lodge a complaint with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), as the content could involve 3R (race, religion and royalty) sensitivities relating to race and the Sabah Seri Kinabalu Istana Negeri.
