KUALA LUMPUR: Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today evaded enquiries over the restrictions of TikTok post by Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmakers concerning the ringgit's depreciation.
During the winding-up of the royal address debate today, Fahmi added that the account of Putrajaya member of parliament Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin would have been completely suspended if the government were impeding freedom of speech in the country.
"I checked Putrajaya's account and it is still there. There's no issue regarding making posts, there's no problem.
"Even yesterday, your post has gained 177,000 views. Hence, the government is not blocking you," said Fahmi.
He said this in response to Radzi's enquiries on whether the government had issued explicit directives to block two of his TikTok posts.
Radzi enquired whether the 'geofence' element was used to limit the access to his posts to users located outside of Malaysia.
He also enquired about the government's stance on freedom of speech currently as they did not keep their promise during their opposition days.
"This is on the ringgit content, I was asking about why (my) post about the ringgit cannot be viewed in the country but can be viewed outside the country.
"Was there any instruction from the government to block access (to the content)? I am talking about a specific post, not about my account."
Earlier, Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan (PN-Tasek Gelugor) had asked Fahmi for clarification over who was in charge of whether specific social media posts breached the law and justified their removal.
"If a post breaches the law, who determines this breach?
"Can the Malaysian government unilaterally conclude that a breach has transpired without undergoing the legal process?"