Malaysia’s police chief has stated that he will seek assistance from Interpol in locating Singaporean-born New York-based comedian Jocelyn Chia. Chia’s joke about MH370’s disappearance has already resulted in diplomatic apologies from the city-state that formerly belonged to Malaysia.Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, the Inspector General of Police, told Malaysian media that the police would request Interpol’s assistance for their investigation on Wednesday.
Laws pertaining to intentional insult, provocation, and incitement are the subject of an investigation by Malaysian police into Chia, a former lawyer who is believed to have become a citizen of the United States.After posting a clip from a stand-up routine in which she used MH370 as the punchline to a joke, Chia sparked the controversy.In 2014, the Boeing 777 with 239 passengers and crew members on board vanished while en route to Beijing. Although pieces of the plane have washed up on beaches in the Indian Ocean and eastern Africa, it has never been found. It is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.
The joke shocked a lot of people in Malaysia, and Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said that Chia had shown a “total lack of sensitivity and empathy” toward Malaysians and the families of the victims.High Commissioner Vanu Gopala Menon described the performance at New York’s Comedy Cellar as “gratuitously offensive” and stated that Singapore “does not condone words or actions that cause harm or hurt to others, and Chia, who is no longer Singaporean, does not in any way reflect our views.” His Singaporean counterpart, Vivian Balakrishnan, on the other hand, stated that he was “appalled” by Chia’s “horrendous statementsOn Sunday, Chia, a former lawyer, claimed that the clip had been taken “out of context” and that she stood by her stand-up routine.
Malaysian and Singaporean comedians frequently make fun of each other’s countries and flaws. Singapore and Malaysia became independent in 1965.
