Malaysian labourer sentenced for a year for insulting royalty
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 07 June, 2016, 7:59pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 07 June, 2016, 7:58pm
Agence France-Presse
A Malaysian was sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday after he admitted 14 charges of insulting one of the country’s royal families, local media reported.
Muhammad Amirul Azwan Mohd Shakri, a 19-year-old labourer, had posted derogatory comments about the royal family in the southern state of Johor between March and April on Facebook, the New Straits Times said.
He was charged under the country’s multimedia laws. It was not immediately clear what forms the insults took.
Malaysia, a parliamentary democracy, has a unique system in which Islamic sultans serve as the ceremonial royal rulers of the country’s 13 states.
They alternate every five years as figurehead king of the entire country.
Johor’s royal family is rich and powerful and possesses its own private army – the only state to have one.
Its social-media savvy crown prince, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, runs a successful local football club and is often seen by young adults as something of a cool rebel.
The prince, who is heir to the Johor throne, has previously posted comments and videos online seeming to question the federal government.
He has made comments interpreted by many as raising questions about a corruption scandal swirling around Prime Minister Najib Razak.
A few other people have been arrested over the last fortnight for allegedly insulting the prince on social media, according to news portal Malaysiakini. It is not known if they will face charges.
But recently the prince asked police to refrain from arresting those who insult him.
The centuries-old royal families are accorded great respect as symbols of Muslim-majority Malaysia’s heritage and guardians of the Islamic faith.
