Police in Malaysia said Tuesday that they have arrested two people they think beat a man to death. All because he said some mean things to one of his female Facebook friends.
So what do we call this new human activity? Social beatia? Flash mob justice?
According to AFP, Malaysian police have the two prime suspects locked away in a cage for the time being.
“The two men are in a police lock-up. They are being investigated for murder,” a senior police official familiar with the case told AFP anonymously.
Mohamad Amran Romli, twenty-years-old, died in a hospital Friday soon after receiving serious head wounds in a beating from two mean who are believed to be brothers of the girl, the Malay language daily Berita Harian said.
The two alleged thugs pummeled Amran with motorcycle helmets in the attack which took place in an alley behind a supermarket in Kulim town in Kedah state, it said.
Ghuzlan Saleh, the local police chief, said that Amran had friend requested the girl on Facebook, which is very popular in the Muslim leaning country. Social networking and microblogging sites are popular there in general.
But, their online communications went from friendly to hostile and the victim supposedly posted some nasty comments related to the girl and her family.
“She then complained to her brothers who sought to resolve the dispute with Amran. They met behind a supermarket but an altercation broke out and the victim was hit on the head with crash helmets,” the police chief was quoted as saying.
“It will take about two weeks before they are charged in court after a report is submitted to public prosecutors,” the senior police official told AFP.
TNS, a global research firm did a study last year that showed Malaysians are the most popular people on the Internet. They have an average of 233 friends in their social networks, which is more than China’s 68 people average and Japan’s 29 people average.
