Dancer Bilqis Hijjas was today acquitted of insulting
behaviour by dropping yellow balloons during an official event attended by
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife in a mall last August.
Magistrate Muhamad Faizal Ismail said the prosecution failed
to prove a prima facie case against Bilqis, ruling that it had not shown that
her action with the balloons amounted to “insulting behaviour”.
He pointed out that the definition in the dictionary by the
country's leading Malay-language authority Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka requires an
alleged “insult” to be aimed or felt by a person, but pointed out that no one
had been insulted by Bilqis's actions.
“This court finds that an insulting action has to be
referred to someone who felt they were insulted,” the magistrate said when
delivering his decision at the end of the prosecution's case.
The magistrate said three witnesses had felt that Bilqis
behaved insultingly, but noted that auxiliary police officer Irmalinda Zaimardy
could not have been insulted as she was merely carrying out her duties by
stopping the balloon-dropping, while event organiser Datin Sunita Mei-Lin
Rajakumar only found out about Bilqis's actions after it had happened and the
event had ended.
As for investigating officer Izwan Paijan's testimony that
Bilqis' actions were “rude”, the magistrate said it was merely the view of the
eighth and final prosecution witness in this case.
“The attitude of being kurang ajar dan biadap (rude) can be
said to be a moral wrong, and not a criminal offence,” he said.
The magistrate also found that the prosecution had failed to
prove that Bilqis had “intent to provoke” anger, noting that two security
personnel had apprehended her without having to use any force.
“The accused also offered a balloon to the second
prosecution witness (Pavilion mall security executive Karamjit Singh Shabeg
Singh) but it was refused by the second prosecution witness and the second
prosecution witness ordered her to stop her actions.
“This shows that the accused has no intention to provoke
anger,” he said, again highlighting that Sunita had only discovered the
balloon-dropping after the event ended.
The prosecution also failed to prove the final element of
the charge, as it was shown that there was no “breach of peace” caused by
Bilqis's actions, the magistrate said.
“This ingredient can be seen from the prosecution witnesses,
who said there was no breach of peace, the event went on smoothly, no chaos
occurred, no one ran when the balloons fell from the fifth floor to second
floor,” he said.
He also noted the mall's security officers testified that
they helped prevent any unwanted incident by apprehending Bilqis.
“The court finds that the prosecution failed to prove a
prima facie case against the accused and the court discharges the accused
without her having to enter defence,” he said.
Charged under Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955 last
September 23, Bilqis faces a maximum RM100 fine over alleged “insulting
behaviour” with the purported purpose of inciting anger that may cause a
disturbance of peace.
The charge did not specify who was alleged to have been
insulted.
In the incident last August 31 at around 3.15pm at Pavilion,
several yellow balloons printed with the words “Free media”, “Democracy” and
“Justice” were said to have been released from the mall's fifth floor to the
second floor where the Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival's opening ceremony
was held.
During the trial, several of the prosecution’s witnesses had
associated the yellow colour of the balloons to the two-day Bersih 4 rally last
August 29 and August 30 by electoral reform group Bersih 2.0, where protesters
had sought the prime minister’s removal.
Source -Malay Mail Online-
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