Police investigating viral video of Malaysian flag being lowered in Australia

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have started investigations into a viral video of the Malaysian flag being taken down and replaced with the flags of Sabah and Sarawak.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said preliminary investigations under the Sedition Act 1948 and Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 found that the incident happened in Melbourne, Australia on Sept 16.

“Police have received 35 reports regarding the video, with 34 police reports lodged in Sabah and one in Kuala Lumpur,” he told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Police Training Centre here on Monday (Sept 23).

Razarudin said the investigations found that the video was circulated by a Malaysian with a Sabah address on social media.

He said the man had a record of two previous crimes related to Section 500 of the Penal Code for defamation and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper use of network facilities or network services.

The man had also been charged with an unrelated offence in Kota Kinabalu but freed on a bail of RM3,000 pending the mention of the case in November.

“We are investigating the connection between the suspect and the individual who was seen carrying out the act (lowering the flag),” he said.