HOW could Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s complaints about the aircraft that was to take him to Langkawi last week be fake, asked Daim Zainuddin last night.

The former finance minister said the plane’s tyre had a problem, and the Pakatan Harapan prime minister designate only highlighted it.

“I think it is silly. How can you say fake news when the tyre has a problem? Everyone acknowledged it. If there is a problem with the tyre, it is very dangerous,” he said after attending a ceramah at a low-cost flat in Kerinchi, Kuala Lumpur.

He said he could not believe that police are investigating Dr Mahathir under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018.

“I don’t know what is fake here. A plane is not like a bicycle or car. Once you are in the air, your life is in the hands of the pilot.”

Kuala Lumpur police yesterday said they are investigating Dr Mahathir under the new law, which carries a jail term of not more than six years, or a fine of not more than RM500,000, or both, upon conviction.

City police chief Commissioner Mazlan Lazim said an investigation paper was opened following a report lodged against the opposition leader by a civil society organisation close to Umno, GAUM, on May 1.

GAUM president Zulkarnain Mahdar had told the media that police must act against Dr Mahathir because “it is very clear that (Dr Mahathir’s claim) is a lie”.

Dr Mahathir is the second person to be investigated under the Anti-Fake News Act.

Earlier this week, a Danish national became the first to be punished under the act, over a YouTube video he had posted on the shooting of a suspected Hamas member in Kuala Lumpur. He was sentenced to a week’s jail and fined RM10,000.

Dr Mahathir had, on Friday, said the plane he was supposed to travel to Langkawi on had been sabotaged. Following this, the government ordered an immediate investigation.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, in a statement the following day, said there was no sign the aircraft had been sabotaged. – May 3, 2018.