THE arrest of a man in Langkawi, over insults to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has sparked indignation as well as raised fears the new administration will be just as quick as the old to act against those critical of it.

The man was arrested because of complaints he had made “excessively insulting statements on Facebook towards Mahathir and Islam,” Langkawi police said in a Facebook post with the hashtags #lessonlearned and #berhemahketikaberbicara (Be courteous when speaking).

Several groups had reported the man, they said, who would be remanded until Sunday.

Activists have responded to the arrest with indignation. 

“Is calling someone a dictator a crime?” PSM activist Khalid Ismath said on Twitter.

Lawyers for Liberty said the act of reporting insults to the police was frivolous and trivialised the act of lodging police reports itself while disregarding people’s right to  criticise. – May 17, 2018.