Malaysian police ‘to seek Interpol help’ over Singapore-born comedian Jocelyn Chia’s MH370 joke

As row into Chia’s quip about missing flight refuses to die down, police chief says Interpol application will be submitted to help find her
Some on Malaysian social media, though, say hounding of Chia has gone far enough, accusing police of wasting time and politicians of using storm for their own gain

Singapore

Joseph Sipalan

Published: 6:36pm, 13 Jun 2023

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Malaysia’s police will seek the help of Interpol to locate comedian Jocelyn Chia, state media reported on Tuesday, as the outcry engulfing the Singapore-born comic over a quip she made about missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 refused to abate.

Chia, who is based in the US, triggered backlash in Malaysia and Singapore after a clip she posted of her stand-up routine at a New York comedy club involving a joke about the plane went viral on social media.

In her skit, the lawyer-turned comedian said Malaysians cannot visit Singapore because their “aeroplanes cannot fly”, a remark she clarified was a reference to the disappearance of MH370 in 2014.

“What? Malaysian Airlines’ plane going missing not funny huh?” Chia asked after getting mixed reactions from the audience. “This joke kills in Singapore.”

Malaysia’s police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani joined the furore on Tuesday promising to submit an application to Interpol to facilitate their probe into Chia, who he said is being investigated under his country’s penal code and communications law.

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Singaporean comedian faces backlash for joke about missing Malaysia flight MH370

“Besides that, the police have also made a transcript of the suspect’s speech in the video,” Acryl was quoted as saying by national newswire Bernama.

The police have asked the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to carry out profiling on Chia to assist in their investigations into her social media accounts, Acryl said, according to Bernama’s report.

Flight MH370 went missing in March 2014 while on route to Beijing from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. The whereabouts of the plane and its 239 passengers and crew remain unknown, despite several attempts to locate the aircraft.

Chia’s joke has seen castigation and anger pour down on her from both sides of the Malaysia border.

Malaysia’s police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, who says Interpol will be asked for help to locate comedian Jocelyn Chia. File photo: Facebook/Royal Malaysia Police

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said he was “appalled” by her jokes and apologised to Malaysians for the offence caused. His Malaysian counterpart, Zambry Abd Kadir, said the skit lacked sensitivity and empathy towards Malaysians and the MH370 victims and their families.

In an interview with CNN, Chia said she had performed her routine “more than a hundred times” for a year and a half without issue, but admitted that some necessary context was missing when the offending segment was made into a short clip for social media.

“I do stand by my joke but with some caveat – I stand by it in its entirety, when viewed in a comedy club. Upon reflection I do see that having this as a clip that gets viewed out of a comedy club context was risky,” she said.

Some on Malaysian social media said the hounding of Chia has gone far enough.

“Which politician instructed the police to waste time?” Twitter user Jacque Mike said in a Malay language tweet.

“There are so many other criminals that need to be caught. This was just a dumb joke. That went viral. And then some politicians rode on that.”

Another Malaysian said that police time would be better spent looking for fugitive Malaysian businessman Jho Low, wanted by Interpol for being the alleged mastermind behind the multibillion-dollar scandal at Malaysian state fund 1MDB.

“As much as we hate her, I personally don’t think this is necessary. They should work on capturing Jho Low instead of this pipsqueak,” Hafiz R. said on Twitter.