PADANG BESAR, April 26 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today reminded Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman not to be hypocritical when claiming that the ruling government is keen to take action against its critics on social media.

Fahmi, who is also the spokesperson for the unity government, said Syed Saddiq may have forgotten that the country had already seen a leader who took various actions against the media and those who disagreed with that leader.

"Perhaps he (Syed Saddiq) had forgotten (the history) that there was a time before he was born, there was a leader and, during his administration, there was no freedom of speech, people who demonstrated were beaten, journalists who reported may get their newspapers banned.

"Those who disagreed were arrested in Ops Lalang. Ask his (Syed Saddiq’s) idol back then. If he wants to compare the past and the present, it’s like heaven and earth, so don’t be a hypocrite!”

Fahmi said this in response to Syed Saddiq’s statement on TikTok yesterday, in which he claimed that today’s government is keen to take action against postings on social media and has even deleted the social media accounts of certain parties who criticised the government.

Fahmi said the government does not prevent the people from criticising, especially regarding policies implemented by the government and said there is a lot of content on social media that criticises the government.

However, he insisted that defamatory matters are prohibited from being disseminated based on existing laws.

"The issue is when it comes to slander. During Ramadan last month, someone made a slanderous statement saying that the Prime Minister is sick, and that the Prime Minister has so many diseases. That is pure slander and such things are prohibited by law,” he said, adding that every action taken by the government is always based on the law.

Fahmi was met after visiting the Northern Zone Fibre Optic Point of Presence (PoP) Network Hub here today. — Bernama