The former deputy minister said she was ready to be investigated over a post on child marriage attributed to her Facebook account.
Former deputy women, family and community development minister Hannah Yeoh will be in the Bukit Aman police headquarters on June 23 to have her statement taken over a Facebook post which she has already denounced as fake.
The Segambut MP said she was ready to be investigated over a post on child marriage attributed to her Facebook account.
“I’ve been informed that it’s about my tweet on March 9 on the National Strategic Plan in handling the causes of child marriage and I am prepared to give my full cooperation,” she said in a statement today.
Yeoh previously said she was informed on March 11 about a poster using her photograph and which attributed a false statement to her.
The poster portrayed Yeoh as saying that under her successor, PAS MP Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, underage marriage to legalise sexual intercourse with children would become widespread.
Yesterday, Federal CID director Datuk Huzir Mohamed said police had started investigations after the owner of the “Hannah Yeoh Facebook account” made the posting.
Huzir said police have classified the case under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and Section 505(c) of the Penal Code.
“We are also investigating the case under Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act for misuse of network facilities,” he said.
“I reiterate once again that the statement in the poster is not mine and is fake.
“The poster has nothing to do with me and is pure slander. I had never used those words.
“Upon being alerted about it, I quickly explained in my Facebook that the statement is not mine and it is fake,” said Yeoh.
The police investigation on Yeoh has drawn criticism from former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was also the minister for women, family and community development when Yeoh was at the ministry.
Others such as former minister in the prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said have also criticized the investigation as a bad precedent that would expose lawmakers to “unnecessary” questioning for expressing their view.
Bukit Gelugor MP and DAP National Legal Bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh said Yeoh should not be held responsible for the post as she has declared that it is fake.
He said the police were missing the point in investigating Yeoh as she was not responsible for the post which was the work of a third party out to tarnish her name.
“In this regard, it is pertinent to note that Yeoh had, as early as March 11 denied that the said FB post which was attributed to her, was in fact produced by her.
“In such circumstances, investigating Yeoh alone over the said post misses the point that she was not responsible for the same as it is obvious in this case, that the said posting was made by a third party with a view to tarnishing her image,” he said in a statement.
Ramkarpal urged Bukit Aman to find out who was truly responsible for the writing.