Report Against Fahmi Redza Over Sardines And Chicken Controversy

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Perak Umno Youth chief Mohd Ariff Abdul Majid (middle) shows a copy of the police report lodge against activist and graphic designer Fahmi Redza at Kuala Kangsar district Police Headquarters. - Pic courtesy of Mohd Ariff Abdul MajidIPOH: Perak Umno Youth today lodged a police report against activist and graphic designer Fahmi Redza over his caricature poking fun at Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad.
Perak Umno Youth chief Mohd Ariff Abdul Majid said the police report, lodged at the district police headquarters here, was over two postings uploaded onto Fahmi's Facebook and Twitter accounts.
"The postings bore the name and picture of the Menteri Besar, with the caption 'Kita dah bagi makan sardin, jangan gatal nak mintak ayam pulak' (We've given you sardines, don't ask for chicken)," he said.
It is understood that the quote was in reference to Saarani's recent press conference in which he was asked by reporters to comment on the poor quality of smartphones being given to poor students in the state to help them attend online classes.
Saarani had defended the state government's move to distribute 20,000 smartphones to students following criticism that the devices were unsuitable for home-based teaching and learning (PdPR).
A news portal had quoted Saarani as saying: "If people give us sardines when we are in difficult times, let's eat the sardines. Let's not say we want to eat chicken instead."
Mohd Ariff said the image has since gone viral and invited criticism as well as insults from social media users, and gave the impression that the Saarani was being arrogant over the issue.
"To be sure, I referred to a video clip on the MB's official Facebook page. I found that the expression stated in the image uploaded by Fahmi was not true and was never mentioned by the MB," he said in a statement today.
Mohd Ariff said that Saarani, in the press conference, was merely offering an analogy on the smartphones which were presented by YTL Foundation to the state government before distributing them to poor students.
"The analogy was that it would not be nice if the state government had rejected the smartphone donation as they was given for free for distribution to poor students and make it easier for them to attend online classes.
"As such, it is very clear that the image uploaded by Fahmi has a defamatory element and was deliberately made to incite hatred.
"This police report was lodged to enable the police and Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to launch an investigation," he said. - NST

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