Malaysia police say they acted within the law when detaining 2 students over exam rant 'insulting S'pore'

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.

Malaysian news agency Bernama reported on Monday that the teenagers were arrested in relation to a viral video depicting a male student in school uniform swearing and making an obscene gesture while mocking questions in an SPM paper about Singapore’s history.

SPM, or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national exam taken by all Form 5 students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the GCE O-level examinations in Singapore.

In the video, the student can be heard saying: “To those who made this SPM history paper, what about Singapore? People don’t read about Singapore.

“This Singapore! You think I care about Singapore? Even for water, they use Malaysia’s. Suddenly you come up with Singapore.”

The two teenagers apologised in a later video.

The Malaysian police said the arrest was made after they received a report from a 53-year-old female teacher the day before.

Mr Suffian said in a statement on Saturday: “The viral video on TikTok and Facebook showed a male student in his school uniform expressing his dissatisfaction with the SPM History paper.

“The student used vulgar words to criticise those who had set the questions and also insulted Singapore.”

Mr Suffian said the mobile phones that were said to have been used by the pair have also been confiscated, adding that both teenagers have tested negative for drugs and have no prior criminal records.

Mr Suffian’s statement on Sunday came amid criticism from Malaysian human rights group Lawyers of Liberty on what it said was the heavy-handed way the teenagers were treated

Mr Suffian added that the investigation paper would be completed and referred to Selangor's Deputy Public Prosecutor. AGENCIES