The Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (Scah) Youth section is under police investigation over a racial hate message posted on its website last month.

Scah Youth chairperson Jean Lee told malaysiakini today the police investigation is in relation to a message posted on the organisation's website by a reader with the name 'KK Lim' in late June.

It was learnt that the message, which contained disparaging remarks against the Malays, consisted of only one line and was in Chinese.

According to Lee, the message in response to another posting by another person who wrote about the bumiputra quota system.

Lee added that the police told her organisation the hate message was sent from a US-based server but the identity of the writer remains unknown.

When contacted, an officer from the Serious Crime Branch of the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters confirmed that the investigation is in process but refused to elaborate.

In recent years, due to strict regulations on traditional media, websites and Internet news groups, primarily in Malay and English, have sprouted in cyberspace to cater for freedom of speech.

'Malicious plot'

Lee said the organisation was not aware about the hate message until three weeks ago when police approached the server company which manages their website. The message was immediately removed from the website's 'Forum' section, she said.

Asked why the message was not detected sooner, Lee said that it was due to their lack of humanpower and the editorial policy of the forum.

"This forum is unmoderated because previous users have been responsible when expressing their views. We did not expect someone to misuse it to promote racial hatred," she said.

She said the Scah Youth section had had several meetings to review the website's editorial policy, but added that any changes would not curb the forum's role as a platform for freedom of expression.

Lee said sensitive words which could incite racial and religious antagonism would most likely be omitted before messages are posted in future.

Lee also said she suspected that the hate message was part of a "malicious plot" to sabotage the forum.

"There are people in this country who do not want to see rational discussions and debates flourish and will do anything to stop it," she said.

Lee said she is now waiting for the police to contact her regarding the hate message as she was overseas when police officers went to her office early last week.