Police monitoring social sites on Sg Petani riot

The police are monitoring social sites and blogs to check speculation about rioting in Kuala Muda district in Kedah.

Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said the directive to monitor social sites and blogs was issued to check the spread of false news.

"If the language, word or sentence used has elements of provocation, we will not hesitate to lodge police report and track down those involved.

"The investigation is ongoing and those involved can be charged under the Sedition Act or the Communications and Multimedia Act for online abuse," he told a press conference after opening the 'Desa Selamat' programme in Felda Teloi Timur, here today.

Syed Ismail said the news spread via social sites, blogs or SMSes was false and the public was urged to refer to the official police Facebook page to get the correct information on the incident.

"This is the danger of the internet. They can use another person's identity, and photographs can be replaced with events elsewhere causing confusion among the readers.

"No deaths occurred and police acted based on provisions of existing laws to control the situation. Don't believe in rumours and get information from the police official Facebook page," he added