KUCHING: In the Sessions Court, an engineer pleaded not guilty to charges of sending malicious communications through short messaging service (SMS) with racial and sexual connotations to several individuals from a telecommunications company three years ago.
Sim, 45, faced five separate charges read before four Sessions Court judges – Afidah Abdul Rahman, Maris Agan, Mohd Taufik Mohd@Mohd Yusoff, and Musli Abdul Hamid, on Thursday (May 25).
The judges ordered the case to be re-mentioned on July 4 and granted Sim bail of RM5,000 (undeposited) with two local sureties with fixed addresses for all charges. Additionally, Sim was ordered to surrender his passport.
According to the charges, Sim was accused of knowingly initiating the transmission of obscene communications through SMS from a phone number, with the intent to offend others. The alleged offences occurred five times in different incidents in June, July, and December 2019.
Sim was charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588), which carries penalties under Section 233(3) of the same Act.
If convicted, Sim could face a fine of up to RM50,000, imprisonment for up to a year, or both. Additionally, he could be fined RM1,000 for each day the offence continues after conviction.
It was reported that Sim sent racist and sexual messages to officials at a Sarawak branch of a Malaysian telecommunications company.
The prosecution was led by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) prosecuting officer Siti Hajar Sulaiman, with investigating officer Nur Nazhzilah Mohammad Hashim.
Sim was represented by counsel Hii Yiik Yew.
