The 41-year-old, who spoke to FMT on condition of anonymity, lodged a police report on Monday after enduring more than a year of coordinated harassment, comments threatening rape and sexual assault, and defamation from fake accounts on TikTok. She said she lodged two other police reports on the same matter last September.
The activist said she became the target of sustained attacks on TikTok after publicly exposing the “brutal” cyberbullying of TikTok influencer A Rajeswary, better known as Esha, which is believed to have led to her suicide in July 2024.
“These accounts keep claiming that I am the mastermind behind my friend Esha’s death. They post videos, captions, and comments containing vulgarities, provocations, defamation, accusations, threats, and insults intended to humiliate me.
“This harassment has made it difficult for me to focus on work and family. I have suffered severe emotional distress, and at one point, even had thoughts of self-harm. I mention this to show the serious mental and safety impact these attacks have caused.”
She said while the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) banned several accounts after she lodged complaints against them, the attacks were now carried out by new accounts with similar usernames as the banned ones.
The activist hopes the police will take action under the applicable laws, including Section 507D of the Penal Code, which is known as the “Esha Clause”.
Section 507D, which came into effect in July, criminalises words or actions used to threaten, insult or defame with the intent to provoke self-harm or harm to others.
The penalty for such offences includes imprisonment for up to one year, a fine or both.
In a press release this week, the Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) condemned both the cyberbullying campaigns and what it described as institutional apathy from the authorities.
The group said multiple police reports and formal complaints to MCMC – including a letter to communications minister Fahmi Fadzil in 2024 – had been submitted.
GHRF said the abuse against the activist reflected a wider pattern of intimidation targeting women online. It cited other cases in which cyber harassment escalated into tragedy, including the suicides of Thivya Nayagi (2020), Sashikala Nadarajah (2022) and Esha.
The NGO said that while the Esha Clause was introduced to protect victims – especially women – from online abuse, it remained ineffective without enforcement.
“Malaysia cannot afford to lose more lives to preventable online abuse,” said GHRF president S Shashi Kumar.
“The laws exist… What is missing is enforcement, political will, and institutional responsibility.”