Bukit Aman Opens Investigations on Hannah Yeoh for Tweeting a Question About Child Marriage in Malaysia

By Ammar Haziq  •  17 Jun 2020 in News

Thirsty for JUICE content? Quench your cravings on our Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp

Former deputy women, family and community development minister, Hannah Yeoh has been called by PDRM to Bukit Aman over a tweet she posted questioning the fate of the ‘National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage’ under her successor Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, a PAS MP.

 

She revealed the news on her Twitter account, with a screenshot of her older tweet that was brought up for questioning. Yeoh said,

“I have been called by Bukit Aman to give a statement for their probe into this tweet. Now, even asking questions is not allowed…”

Saya telah dipanggil oleh Bukit Aman untuk memberi keterangan bagi siasatan mengenai tweet ini. Sekarang ini, tanya soalan pun tak boleh. Sidang Parlimen bulan Mei juga tak diberi peluang tanya soalan. Roadmap ini hasil kerja kuat pentadbiran bawah PH @drwanazizah. pic.twitter.com/M72pb5p1I6

— Hannah Yeoh (@hannahyeoh) June 16, 2020

Yeoh is being investigated under Section 505 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. If found guilty of Section 505, she could face up to two years in jail, a fine, or both; and under Section 233, she could face up to one year in jail, a fine of RM50,000 or both.

The police launched the investigation after receiving a report lodged by a member of the public against her tweet that was posted on 9 March, according to Bukit Aman CID deputy director (investigations/legal) Mior Faridalatrash Wahid. She will be called to give a statement on 23 July 2020.

Earlier this year, Pakatan Harapan launched the National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage with the goal of addressing the causes of underage marriage at the grassroots level and combat it with government-implemented strategies within the next 5 years.

At the time, former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was also the KPWKM minister, said that the plan provides a roadmap on addressing the root causes of child marriage by 2025.

However, with the change in administration in March, the direction now remains unclear.

According to a report in Malay Mail, women’s rights groups have expressed their concerns over the appointment of Siti Zailah as deputy minister due to lack of confidence in her track record. In March, she came under fire for pushing for Muslim female flight attendants to cover their aurat at a time when COVID-19 was ravaging the travel industry and leading to the retrenchment of many airline staff.

For more news, click here.