In case you missed it, controversial rapper Namewee has been detained, as expected. The Johorean, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, was arrested upon his return to Malaysia from abroad for allegedly insulting Islam in his recent music video, “Oh my God.”

In July, after the video was uploaded, some 20 NGOs lodged police reports against Wee, saying he had, among other things, mentioned the name of God inappropriately, made fun of the Muslim call to prayer and depicted Muslims as terrorists.

The debate on whether Wee insulted Islam or, for that matter, whether Selena Gomez’s attire tarnished the sanctity of Shawal, will continue behind closed doors or through fake Facebook accounts. In Malaysia, when we discuss religion, we tread a fine line between freedom of expression and insult of faith.

Wee’s arrest and four-day detention, however, raises another question about someone with a similar sounding name, Langkawi MP Nawawi Ahmad.

Nawawi had allegedly identified the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as the Malaysian Official 1, implicated in the United States Department of Justice’s suit pertaining to 1MDB.

He dragged the royal institution into the scandal, and that is not something the authorities or his party, Umno, should take lightly.

Insulting a religion is no doubt a serious matter, but so is insulting the royal institution. There are laws to punish those who insult members of the royal family and we have seen people punished before.

If you punish one lawbreaker, you can’t let another go free. It is now up to the authorities to show they are sincere in defending the King.