REFUGEE rights activist Heidy Quah has expressed her dissatisfaction with the unity government for retrying her over a Facebook post written some three years ago about a former detainee’s experience in immigration detention. 

The founder of Refuge for the Refugees said she will be charged again at the cyber crimes court in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.  

“This is utterly ridiculous, and not what I expected when we voted for a new government,” Quah told The Malaysian Insight.  

“With this re-charge is the new government condoning what the old government is doing by silencing legitimate criticism against the government?” the 29-year-old asked.  

Quah asserted that she tried to reach relevant ministries for clarification on the matter, but it was to no avail. 

“I haven’t got the charge sheet but I was told by the investigating officer that it was for the same charges. 

“I was informed about this (of getting charged) sometime two-weeks back but we wanted to take time to reach out to relevant ministries like the Home Ministry, Communication and Multimedia Ministry, and also the Attorney-General Chambers.  

“We tried but we did not get any response. So, we are going to court tomorrow,” Quah said. 

Quah was brought to court over a Facebook post she wrote on June 5, 2020 detailing the experiences of a detainee at an immigration detention centre.  

The post appeared at a time when the authorities were taking measures to curb Covid-19 infections by rounding up undocumented migrants. 

She is charged under the multimedia law, which makes it a crime to post “any comment, request, suggestion or other communication which is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person”. 

Quah, a recipient of the Women of the Future Award, was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the Sessions Court last year.  

The decision was made by Judge MM Edwin Paramjothy after allowing a preliminary objection filed by Quah stating that the charges against her were defective and did not comply with the requirement of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and Section 152 to 154 of the Criminal Procedures Code.  

Quah called the repeated prosecution another instance of harassment affecting her and the community she served.  

“The time, energy, and resources spent battling a case that is systematically flawed, unfair, and unjust once again takes away precious time and resources on the ground to do meaningful and impactful work. 

“Not only freedom of speech and expression is a basic human right (as promised in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution) but having an individual pinned down for sharing the realities on the ground is state-sponsored violence against women,” she said.  

Quah, a recipient of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award, said retrying her was putting Malaysia in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.  

“We have progressed so far as a nation and re-charging me would once again put us on international news for the wrong reasons,” she said. – February 14, 2023.