KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) said it had acted within the law when arresting two students over an alleged rant on the history paper of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
Hulu Selangor district police chief Suffian Abdullah said on Sunday (Feb 26) that the two 18-year-olds were placed under remand to facilitate investigations under Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988.
“The two-day remand order against both students was to have their statements recorded thoroughly and to fact-check with related parties, including (checking) the contents of the mobile phone and to get a disciplinary report from the school.
“Having been satisfied with the progress of our investigations, both students were released at 11am today on police bail,” he said in a statement.
Media reports on Saturday said the police had arrested the teenagers after receiving a report from a 53-year-old female teacher the day before, in connection with a viral video showing a male student in school uniform venting his anger over an SPM history paper.
SPM is a national exam taken by all fifth form or final year secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent to the O-Levels.
“The viral video on TikTok and Facebook showed a male student in his school uniform expressing his dissatisfaction with the SPM History paper,” Suffian said in an earlier statement on Saturday.
“The student used vulgar words to criticise those who had set the questions and also insulted Singapore.”
According to Malaysian website WeirdKaya, the student said: “Singapore’s nothing but a kampung. They’re so poor even their water comes from Malaysia! Why should it be included into the exam?”
Suffian’s statement on Sunday was in response to Malaysian human rights group Lawyers of Liberty’s criticism of police actions in arresting the two students on Friday.
He added that the investigation paper would be completed and referred to Selangor’s Deputy Public Prosecutor.
Source: CNA
