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In the early hours of February 14, 2024, rumors circulated on social media that the Malaysian Government executed conservative Malaysian influencer Ian Miles Cheong due to his posts and remarks regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The rumors spread like wildfire but were quickly dismissed by Ian Miles Cheong, who was active on social media just a couple of hours before this article was written.
Ian Miles Cheong has landed in hot water several times for what people perceived as his "pro-Israel stance," even as the influencer denied this in an interview with the New Straits Times, adding he "consistently voiced support for peace between both groups."
He said,
"My views on the matter have been very nuanced contrary to the regurgitated baseless claims about my past from unreliable far left-wing and transgender sources who have been literally trolling me for years due to my conservative views."
Internet reacts to Ian Miles Cheong's "public execution"
Death hoaxes are pretty common in the lives of public figures, and Malaysian influencer Ian Miles Cheong recently fell to this as rumors of his "public execution" by the Malaysian government went viral.
The rumor was tweeted by X user @TheWapplehouse, was viewed 6.7 million times, and reshared 6.6k times. It has since been deleted, but netizens took the rumor and ran with it. Here are some of their reactions from X:
However, the rumors were confirmed to be "a false and extremely misleading story."
Who is Ian Miles Cheong?
According to the New Straits Times, Ian Miles Cheong is a self-professed, "proud Malaysian citizen" with a keen interest in foreign politics, particularly American foreign policies.
He said,
"I'm very proud of being Malaysian despite what other sources claims. I have always been interested in foreign politics and I am concerned with America's international actions. That's it."
Ian Miles Cheong garnered a strong reaction on social media for his outspoken views on the Israel-Palestine conflict, with one of his deleted tweets claiming that “Israel has a right to exist and a right to defend itself” following Israel's retaliatory bombardment in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack.
A user collected a series of Cheong's tweets from 2009 to 2014 and 2019 to 2023 to highlight his views regarding the conflict.
Cheong declined to comment on his past tweets in his interview with the New Straits Times. However, his latest tweet regarding his rumored execution addressed his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict,
"Regarding the topic, I love all people except for vile degenerates and pray for peace in Palestine and wish Israel would stop bombing them. Like any other reasonable person, I do not believe more violence is the solution to ending this conflict."
