Woman lodges police report after image used for political party memes

SHAH ALAM: A teenager has lodged a police report after discovering that her picture was doctored by irresponsible quarters as material for a political party in the 14th General Election.
Shah Alam district police chief ACP Baharudin Mat Taib said the 18-year-old girl lodged a police report on Saturday at about 8.55am at the district police headquarters here.
"The case is also being referred to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for further investigation," he said today.
Baharudin said the teenager claimed that she did not expect her picture to be used by political parties or their supporters, whom she said used her image without her permission for online material.
It was reported that the teenager, a Twitter user, said she felt stressed when her acquaintances, including her lecturers, asked her about the image when it went viral last week. She said the edited image was even used on the front page of a local English daily.
Her image was used for a political meme, showing her with a light blue tudung, with the caption: "Bang, pilih biru muda saja tau bukan bini muda (Darling, choose light blue, not a young wife".
The caption referred to the light blue colour (biru muda) of the political party's logo, and the words 'bini muda', which indicates taking on another wife, usually a younger woman.
Meanwhile, in another related incident, a model said a five-year-old picture of her was doctored and used by irresponsible quarters for political purposes.
Via a Facebook posting, she denied that she had modelled for a political campaign and only learnt of the matter when told by friends.
"This is a stock image which I took five years ago. It has been purchased by the third party from a stock company," she posted.
She clarified that she did not take a picture with the political party's logo, and that it was doctored.
The actual stock image showed her and another female model posing with a sign which bore the word 'Like'.
Following the discovery, she said she contacted the image company and obtained confirmation that the images by the company cannot be used for political purposes.