Kuala Lumpur: The police will seek Interpol’s help to locate stand-up comedian Jocelyn Chia for running down Malaysia using a US platform.
According to Bernama, Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said an application will be filed to Interpol to obtain Chia’s identity and latest location.
In a clip that went viral, Chia is heard using profanities to insult Malaysia. She had also made what netizens termed a “bad” joke on the missing MH370 aircraft.
Chia also boasted about how Singapore was now a first world nation despite its then prime minister crying on TV after it was forced to leave Malaysia, which remains a “developing country”.
The Malaysia Airlines aircraft went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. All 227 passengers and 12 crew aboard are presumed dead, but the fate of the aircraft remains a mystery.
Singapore’s foreign affairs minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, apologised for Chia’s remarks, saying he was appalled by the “horrendous statements”.
The Singapore high commissioner to Malaysia, Vanu Gopala Menon, also said Chia was no longer Singaporean and that her views did not reflect the city-state’s in any way.
Meanwhile, CNN quoted Chia as saying the clip of her stand-up set had omitted necessary context, and that she had performed the same joke “more than a hundred times” with no issues in the past.
She reportedly stood by her joke but maintained that it needed to be heard in its entirety and in a comedy club.
“Upon reflection, I do see that having this as a clip that gets viewed outside of a comedy club context was risky,” she said, adding that Malaysians often came up to her after her shows to praise her sets.
Chia said she had no personal grudges against Malaysia and that it was normal for stand-up comics to “roast” their live audiences.
