Rashid said the usage of the Act was necessary to prevent any threat to national security and nodded when asked if the Act should be retained.

“In this modern world, there are those who utilise social media fully, and there are those who fully abuse social media.

“So we need a law that can control such activities so that what is made viral are news that do not threaten national security and public order.

“The onus is on the public to ensure that the news being spread is true and does not jeopardise the harmony of this country. That is important,” he said at a press conference after attending a forum on child abuse at the police college here today.

It was reported that three individuals, arrested yesterday for allegedly insulting Sultan Muhammad V on social media, were being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948.

The trio are Eric Liew Chee Ling, Azham Akhtar Abdullah and Nur Alia Astaman.

According to Rashid, the trio had been released on police bail and investigation papers had been submitted to the prosecution for further action.

Rashid explained that the Act was being used as the issue being shared extensively on social media was sensitive in nature.

“We have classified this under the Sedition Act and police will take action. If we do not curb this well, we are afraid it will trigger a situation that threatens our national security.

“Hence, police need to take stern action according to existing laws,” he said.

To a question on the government saying it needed to properly define what was meant by “insult”, Rashid said if whatever was said by the three individuals continued to be viralled by more people on social media, it could threaten the country’s peace.

“Therefore, we need to use all powers under the laws we have to stop such things from happening. This is what we are doing.

“We need to ensure that no one does things that can bring disaster, threaten national security or jeopardise public order,” he added.