At least one of the video postings tried to link the video to the newly formed federal government.
Police have opened an investigation paper over a video of a group of Malaysians singing the national anthem while waving the Jalur Gemilang along with the Israeli flag that went viral on social media.
Petaling Jaya police deputy chief Ku Mashariman Ku Mahmood said the investigation was launched following a police report lodged by a local man after watching the 47-second video clip.
“Initial investigation found that the incident occurred in September when a group of locals visited the (Sea of) Galilee Lake in an Israeli-occupied area, which was handled by a local tour agency,” he said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur today.
“During the visit, the national anthem was played, and the Malaysian flag was waved. The video was believed to have been made viral in connection with the current Israel-related issue.”
He said the investigation is being done under section 8 of the National Anthem Act 1968 and section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988.
Ku Mashariman also warned the public against making statements or spreading the video clip on any platform to avoid any speculation and provocation that could jeopardise public order.
At least one of the video postings tried to link the video to the newly formed federal government, while most others merely urged for an explanation of the incident.
The posting, from a page that posts exclusively on politics, claimed it has only been a few days since Harapan’s administration and there is now provocation from those who were previously afraid to speak out.
It also questioned whether the people in the video were from “Harapan, DAP, PKR or BN who just joined the new club”.
The police have since said the claim about the incident taking place after the formation of the new government is false.
“Early investigations found the incident in the video happened in September 2022 while a group of locals joined a tour to a country with a travel agency,” the police said in a statement last night.
Meanwhile, a travel agency posted a statement on their Facebook clarifying another video which also depicts the Malaysian and Israeli flags raised next to each other on a ferry.
The travel agency said this video, lasting about 34 seconds, was taken in December 2019 during one of their tours to the Sea of Galilee.
“We would like to deny (this matter), the video was not taken after GE15 and stress that this is an old video taken in December 2019 and has nothing to do with the Malaysian government nor Israel, whether it is the previous government or the current one.
“For those who have been on a tour to Palestine and have taken a boat around the Sea of Galilee, they will normally go through a similar experience as what we went through at the time.
“It happened spontaneously without our prior knowledge. As patriotic Malaysians, we immediately stood up when the Negaraku is playing, no matter where we were,” the posting said.
Recently, a number of social media postings have tried to portray the new government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as having links to Israel.