KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — The woman who sparked a police investigation into Kedah Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor for allegedly test driving a Ford Raptor in Penang during total lockdown stepped up tonight to tell her side of the story.
Nini Siron shared on her Facebook page that she took photographs and reported the incident to the police as she thought it was her duty as a citizen after seeing someone acting in breach of Covid-19 rules.
Nini said she lives 9.6km or just six minutes away from the place of incident and confirmed that she had called the police at 6.30pm on the day of the incident to report an infringement of the movement control order (MCO) SOPs, adding that she had submitted a report with the police at 10pm.
“Please put aside who the person is. I’m only disputing the MCO breach, that’s all. This can be a general example — I see ‘customers’ and salespeople doing activities that are clearly not allowed.
“Hopefully justice can be done, not just for me but for Malaysians who want no more double standards,” she wrote.
Nini also disclosed that following the police report, she and her family have been accused by total strangers of slander and received many threatening messages. The pressure has been intense, she said.
“These past few days, I’ve pulled myself away because the amount of pressure I’ve been feeling is overwhelming. This is probably the first time in my life I’ve felt this way.
“There’s no denying that the pressure I am feeling now is very stressful. On top of that, myself, my husband, my children and my relatives were snapped at, insulted and ridiculed. What did we do wrong?” she asked.
At the time of writing, Nini’s post has had over 1,500 comments and been shared 647 times across Facebook.
Women’s advocacy group Sisters in Islam (SIS) said in a statement it stands in solidarity with Nini Siron, urging the public to stop the harassments towards her.
“Nini, a housewife, has been under attack by many, including supporters of the Menteri Besar ranging from religious teachers to those with political links. The attacks on Nini range from the circulation of personal details of her family, including the circulation of her husband, her son and her sister’s photos.
“She also received hate messages and threats on her Facebook personal account and her husband’s business page, forcing her husband to deactivate the business page after his mobile number and pictures of his customers were circulated,” said SIS.
SIS said that in time of pandemic, everyone must play a role in curbing the spread of Covid-19, quoting Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri’s statement that the public can play their role by reporting and alerting the authorities of anyone breaking the SOPs.
“Nini, being a responsible Malaysian did just that by lodging a police report on the incident the same day, with a video recording she took from her mobile phone as evidence.
“She has then received many threats and attacks from the public, especially from supporters of the Menteri Besar,” it said.
They are also urging the government to create a specific law to criminalise cyberbullying, even though threats on social media is a crime under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which carries a fine of not more than RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both.
“Threats and harassment made by the public on social media or directly are truly appalling and this must be taken seriously by the authorities. Nini’s courage in reporting the incident to the authorities is truly commendable and we applaud and stand in solidarity with Nini,” they said.
