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Okay, Chelsea, there's no way I could read this article before going into this. We all need to

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experience this together just because the headline is just so good. That's the way I prefer it. Okay,

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good. Hit me with it. McDonald's turns to sedition act as boycott bites despite PR campaigns. This

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is in the Malaysia Now posted on November 14th, 2023. This has to do with a boycott due to the

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Israel invasion of Gaza. Oh, okay. But anyhow, that article headline, I just I needed to go in

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this with everybody together. McDonald's turns to sedition act as boycott bites despite PR campaigns.

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Okay, let's go into this. A revelation by McDonald's that it was working with the government to bring

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sedition charges against those calling for a boycott in the wake of the Gaza conflict has

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threatened to mire the fast food franchise in a bigger public relation nightmare with a rights

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lure expressing shock that the company would resort to the use of controversial laws. The

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announcement was made on social media by McDonald's chief technology officer, Zayed

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husband on November 3rd, but only picked up in the recent days with many netizens expressing

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shock that the company was turning to the government. And the post which has since been removed Zayed

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Hasman shared a photograph of him and other senior McDonald's colleagues with the chairman of the

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Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, MCMC, Muhammad Saleem, MCMC, the internet regulator

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under communications and digital ministry headed by Fami Fazio was recently under fire over its

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move to block websites carrying news critical of the government thanking MCMC for his cooperation

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to stop slander against McDonald's. Zayed Hasman also announced that 60 individuals will be charged

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with the sedition act. His post for new criticism against McDonald's whose bosses have repeatedly

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pleaded with the public to stop linking it with its franchise partners in other countries where

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the company is seen as having taken a pro-Israeli stance, including the move by McDonald's Israel

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to supply food to soldiers involved in the bombardment of Gaza. McDonald's Malaysia has several

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times pointed out that it isn't an independent entity and highlighted its annual contribution to

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Zakat hoping to soothe the anger of Muslims in Malaysia who have responded to a popular global

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boycott targeting cooperation based in the US. Israel's main ally which has supplied it with

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weapons and other assistance in the current war. The company's bosses had also turned to the state

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Muffdis and religious scholars while announcing a contribution to the government's humanitarian fund

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for Gaza. Nevertheless, the boycott trend appears to have continued leaving many McDonald's outlets

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in the Klang Valley almost deserted even during peak hours. Many videos to counter the boycott have

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meanwhile backfired resulting in a flood of comments attacking an oft-repeated narrative by the company

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that the boycott is hurting Malay Muslim staff. McDonald's latest move to resort to the Sedition

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Act elicited shock from a prominent rights lawyer, quote, is entirely bizarre and improper that a

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cooperation is announcing that 60 people are being investigated under the archaic and draconian law.

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If anything, criminal investigation and prosecution is under the purview of the police and it is for

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the attorney general to announce end quote Zayed Malik of Lawyers for Liberty told Business Station

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BFM yesterday. Adding the company could have been quote ill-advised end quote Zayed Malik said the

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Sedition Act had nothing to do with the accusations against a business entity. Quote, it is clear that

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McDonald's has a cooperation does not, I think they mean corporation there, does not fall within

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the ambit of the Sedition Act because it only envisions any sort of seditious statements against

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government or any organ of the government. It should not be any business of the state to protect

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the image of any corporation added the lawyer. Zayed Malik also said it was probable that the

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company's decision to turn to the Sedition Act was inspired by the government's own abuse of the

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act of silence any criticism against it. Malaysia now is waiting for a response for McDonald's Malaysia.

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There is a bit more to it. Chelsea, do you know what Sedition Acts generally are for?

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I googled it. Oh, okay. Yes, I do. Okay. Speak for words to incite others to rebel against the

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government or governing authority. Yeah. So a little bit of context here, which I think

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they don't need to put it in here because it's a Malaysian news article. So people reading it are

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generally going to be from Malaysia and know the cultural background. Malaysia, I believe, is either

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the first or second largest Muslim country in the world. Most people don't know that. They think of

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Muslims as being from the Middle East, but the two largest Muslim countries in the world are Indonesia

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and Malaysia. So they're identifying strongly with Gazan, which is predominantly Muslim,

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Palestinians. And that's part of them. There's a lot of boycotts going on in Muslim prominent

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countries of Israeli related products. Yeah. It's been perceived because, you know, McDonald's

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Israel was providing food to the army that supporting them would be supporting Israel.

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I mean, it's a corporation. So like, yeah, it's not like someone at the head of it is making the

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decision for the whole world. Yeah. But also Malaysian Indonesia since the 1970s ish, we covered

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that in one of the genocide episodes, the transfer of Indonesia, Malaysia's along the same lines

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to an authoritarian state. So they have been very open handed with their use. They're very prone to

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using this edition act or persecuting people who go against them. And McDonald's seems to think that

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they can also use it for for price backlash. So yeah, just I found that to be a bizarre headline.

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Yeah, it's weird. Anything you wanted to add, Chels? No, I think you said all everything I could

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ever say. Okay, okay. Well, that gives you 48 hours to digest like that. That's a lot of background

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and story that is just briefly summarized right now. So I'll give you guys 48 hours to do your

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research and then come back for our Christmas episodes. Yeah, good luck with that research.

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Yeah, bye. Bye.