Joke was in poor taste, says Editor
Published on: Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Kuala Lumpur: The bak kut teh Facebook posting by sex bloggers Alvivi was meant as a joke though in poor taste, the Sessions Court was told.The Star Online editor Philip Golingai testified Tuesday that Alvin Tan Jye Yee told him it was meant to be a joke although there was no obvious reason why he posted such a controversial picture."No reason. Just a joke, I guess," Golingai told the court when asked to describe Tan's reaction to his question on why he posted the photo.
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Golingai was testifying based on a phone interview he had done with Tan back in 2013 that the latter wanted to see how people would perceive the bad joke."It seems not everybody is in the same page as us," testified Golingai as he was telling the court what exactly Tan had said to him during the interview. Golingai also told the court that people did not see the humour but were mostly angry and upset over the post judging from the comments received."That time, the political climate is very raw after the 13th general election as well as the so called Chinese tsunami," Golingai said, adding that the posting could cause a riot.He was responding to Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin during the examination-in-chief.
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He was later crossed-examined by Vivian Lee May Ling's lawyer Chong Joo Tian. Chong said, "I put it to you that there are bak kut teh that are halal," to which Golingai replied, "I disagree. There can never ever ever ever be a halal bak kut teh as it contains pork. You can't slaughter a pig and make it halal."
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Apart from Golingai, Jakim chief assistant director Dr Lokman Abd Rahman and assistant registrar Noraini Yusof also testified at the same court.On July 18, 2013, Tan, 27, and Lee, 26, were jointly charged under Subsection 5(1) of the Film Censorship Act, Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act and Section 298A(1) of the Penal Code.They were charged with displaying pornographic images on their blog between July 6 and 7 that year. For the second charge, they were accused of uploading content that could possibly stir hostility among those with different beliefs between July 11 and 12.They also face a charge of publishing a seditious photograph and inviting Muslims to break fast with bak kut teh together with a halal logo.Tan and Lee later apologised for the video posting on YouTube, saying it was done in jest. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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