Former deputy women, family and community development minister Hannah Yeoh has been called in by Bukit Aman to give her statement over a tweet about child marriage she had made in March.
The tweet by the Segambut MP questioned the future of the national road map to fight child marriage with the appointment of an MP from PAS as the new deputy women, family and community development minister. The new deputy minister is Hajjah Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, the MP for Rantau Panjang.
“Now, you cannot even ask questions. The Parliamentary Session in May did not allow any chances for questions either,” she said in another tweet following the summons.
According to Malaysiakini, Bukit Aman CID director for investigations/legal Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said that Yeoh is being investigated under Section 505 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
The former, which is about statements conducing to public mischief, carries a punishment of up to two years in jail, a fine, or both. The latter, which involves the improper use of network facilities or network services, carries a punishment of up to one year in jail, a fine of RM50,000, or both. A further fine of RM1,000 per day could be added if the offence is continued after conviction.
Yeoh’s statement is slated to be taken on June 23, and that “a member of the public” had lodged a report against the tweet.
“The road map is the result of the administration’s hard work under Pakatan Harapan,” she said at the end of her tweet.
The roadmap, called the National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage, was launched on Jan 16, and was set to address the root causes of child marriage with policy changes, programmes, and the cooperation of 61 government agencies.
The plan was set to be fully implemented by 2025, before the change in government threw the plan, among others, into limbo. – June 16, 2020
