POLICE have asked the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to investigate Facebook users who launched “anti-Islam” threats and attacks against Seri Delima assemblyman Syerleena Abdul Rashid.

Penang police chief Commissioner A. Thaiveegan said police had requested for information on the Facebook users from MCMC at its northern region office.

“We will inform the complainant of developments in the probe,” he said in a WhatsApp message this evening.

Syerleena, of DAP, lodged police reports last week after receiving a handwritten death threat in the letter box of her service centre in Island Glades.

The first-time rep has also been harassed on Facebook, with users accusing her of being anti-Islamic. One recent posting said her blood was “halal” and that she was a “traitor to Islam”.

In her police report, she listed several Facebook accounts that had circulated the inflammatory remarks against her.

Police said the death threat was being investigated under Section 506 of the Penal Code.

The offence is punishable by a maximum two years’ imprisonment, fine or both. If the threat is to cause death, the offence can be punished with a jail term of up to seven years, fine or both.

The Facebook postings against Syerleena could be investigated under Section 233 of the Multimedia and Communications Act for improper use of network facilities or network service.

The offender is liable to a maximum fine of RM50,000, jail not exceeding one year, or both, upon conviction. A fine of RM1,000 per day is imposed if the offence continues after conviction. – July 16, 2018.