Madani or Madness: The shocking case of a 67-year-old former Bernama journalist sent to jail over a Facebook post

Nehru Sathiamoorthy

Sun 2 Mar, 13:22


Madani or Madness: The shocking case of a 67-year-old former Bernama journalist sent to jail over a Facebook post


On 8 February – or just around 3 weeks ago – a former journalist by the name of Johari Ismail, who used to work for the national news agency Bernama, put up a post on Facebook.

What was the post about?

It was about the infamous Najib Addendum, which like the Schrodinger cat, is continuing to taunt the nation by both existing and not existing at the same time.

What did his post say about Najib’s addendum?

Well, Johari alleged that the addendum did in fact exist, and that the Conference of Rulers, or the Majlis Raja Raja, had voted on whether they should take action against the current government, for disobeying their order to execute the order in the addendum, by granting Najib a house arrest, to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Now we don’t know where Johari got his information from, but considering that he was a former journalist, I suppose it is plausible to assume that he had his sources considering his experience in the field, and that he had gathered the information from his sources.

But of course, there is also a possibility that he might have just made the entire thing up.

But regardless of where his information was real or made up, what followed after was for the lack of any other words, bizarre and shocking.

In just a matter of days and weeks, Johari found himself having a date with the courts, under the accusation that he is at fault for posting a false content.

His trial, I have to say, also occurred at a lightning pace.

It was so quick, that just a couple of nights ago, on February 25, he was apprehended for failing to attend court proceedings.

Today, a day later on the 26 February, barely 3 weeks since he made the post, Johari Ismail, who is 67 years of age, has been sentenced to six months in prison in lieu of failing to pay a RM30,000 fine.

Now one thing that I found shocking about the entire affair, is how efficient and quickly that the system works in charging, apprehending, sentencing and imprisoning Johari.

His case was so speedily handled, that it should be used as an example to counter any allegation that the government service is slow and inefficient.

The second thing I found shocking about the entire affair, is the fact that Johari’s “crime” basically involved a Facebook post. Regardless of whether his content was true or false, it was basically the expression of a private person in his Facebook page.

I find it shocking, because in my experience, people, especially on social media, say a whole lot of things whose truthiness cannot be ascertained.

Just a moment ago, I saw a reel on Facebook that said that if you find yourself lost in the jungle, you should pluck a shoot from the ground and replant it upside down in order to find your way back.

Who can say whether this content is true or false, but can the person who made that content be charged for making a false post on Facebook?

Every day, I am sure there is an army of priests or clerics from all religious denominations that are saying all sorts of things about about gods or angels or demons or heaven and hell. No one knows whether they are speaking the truth or just making things up.

No one knows whether things like zodiac signs or horoscopes or feng shui or vastu shastra have an iota of truth in them either, but they appear ubiquitously in all forms of media without anyone claiming that they should be arrested for making false posts.

What about somebody who claims that Cristiano Ronaldo is a better football player than Lionel Messi? How sure are we that this is not a false post?

If a restaurant posts something to the tune of “if you try it once, you will definitely want more”, and you didn’t want it more, after you tried it once, can you report them to MCMC for spreading fake news?

Should we fine them all RM 30,000 and put them in jail for 6 months if they fail to pay up too?

If you want to punish people for making false posts, why single Johari out, when everyday, there are millions of people posting all sorts of questionable news, about ghosts and goblins and guardians of the forest and angels and gods and how eating brinjal will lower your IQ.

Even if what Johari did was presumed to be wrong because it involved the royals, why can’t action be taken against him for tarnishing the image of the royal institution, instead of taking action against him for making a false post?

Johari also, let us not forget, is 67 years old. Isn’t it an overkill to put an almost septuagenarian in prison for 6 months, just for putting up a Facebook post?

Another thing that I don’t understand is what is it that the government is trying to prove by taking such drastic actions against a senior citizen for a rather petty matter at lightning speed anyway?

If the government thinks that by taking such a swift and disproportionate action against Johari, it is proving to the people that it is a government that is extraordinarily committed to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, it should think again.

If anything, the extraordinary measure that the government is applying on the very ordinary case of Johari, is more apt to make people suspect that the government is hiding something rather than believe that they are that punctilious when it comes to the truth.

Otherwise, why couldn’t they just ignore what Johari posted? Everyday there is somebody saying all sorts of things in all corners of the country. If even we the people can’t care about everything that we hear, see and read on social media, why should the government?

And even if the government really couldn’t ignore what Johari posted, why couldn’t they just simply and straightforwardly say that what Johari said is false, and put the matter behind them.

Who is going to believe Johari if the government simply and straightforwardly dismisses Johari's claims as false?

And let us not forget, this entire affair regarding the Najib addendum is even a thing because of the government in the first place.

It is because the government doesn’t want to speak straightforwardly and plainly as to whether the addendum exists and if it exists, what it plans to do about it, that there is a great deal of intrigue and interest in the addendum in the first place.

Considering that it is the government that has made the Najib addendum issue fester in the public consciousness for over a year, punishing Johari for his post is akin to caning your kid for spilling his drink when you return home, simply because you got scolded by your boss for not knowing how to do your job in the office.