KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has no power to prevent individuals from posting on social media, unless the content is slanderous and seditious.
Activist Yuslaini Azmi said that the MCMC would only take action against social media content that causes public disorder, but not allegations against individuals such as those made by Singaporean netizen Sarah Yasmine which are deemed "personal".
Yuslaini advised award-winning film director Erma Fatima not to point fingers at the MCMC for "failing to act against Sarah".
"We cannot jump to conclusions that what Sarah shared on social media is slanderous or otherwise. Those who find it slanderous can file a lawsuit against her," said Yuslaini.
Yuslaini added that Erma should not call for Sarah Yasmine's "banishment" from Malaysia, as many Singaporeans had come to earn an honest living in the country.
"It is understandable that some artistes are not happy with what she has 'revealed' on social media. But in order to avoid the emergence of similar individuals, the entertainment industry should stop working with problematic artistes."
Yuslaini said that Sarah Yasmine did not break the law with her "exposes", unless it was proven that the online conversations that she shared were the result of telephone hacking.
"If the artistes named in Sarah Yasmine's 'exposes' want to make police reports against her, they can do so but it might not work in their favour as action could also be taken against them for being third parties in a marriage."
Yuslaini said that in the case of Aliff Aziz and Ruhainies Zainul Ilyas who were caught for khalwat on March 8, his wife Bella Astillah could make a police report under Sections 36, 37 and 38 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Act (Federal Territories) 1997 and action could be taken against Ruhainies as well as actress Sophia Albarakbah who was also mentioned as one of Aliff's "third parties".
Yuslaini also called on Persatuan Seniman Negara (Seniman) to blacklist all problematic artistes so that the industry will be free of them, and only those with squeaky clean images remained.