FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA STATEMENT
We finally come to a possible end to the Roller coaster sedition ride that has kept us guessing from PM Najib’s 2012 proclamation of its abolishment to the proof today that such promises aren’t worth their salt. His deputy subsequently also said that repealing the Sedition Act 1948 was not just empty talk in bringing about political transformation. (July 2012)
Clearly, talk is cheap. Today, we, Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament are again caught by surprise; for the second time following the POTA ordeal last night, with proposed amendments made to the Sedition Act.
Since the last hotly contested 2013 General Elections, there have been 63 Sedition investigation papers opened up against MPs, Activists, Lawyers, academicians and others.
The transfer of judicial discretion and power to grant bail to the public prosecutor, a government appointee –is an affront to the judiciary. We cannot tolerate the granting of such excessive powers to the executive via POTA; and now the unconstitutional Sedition Act 1948.
The new amendments brought today include; a mandatory jail sentence of between 3 to 7 years; a new offence of causing bodily injury/property damage with a mandatory jail sentence between 5 to 20 years, – an unbailable offence, which is going to be decided by Public Prosecutor, and not the courts; travel documents to be seized at the request of the Public Prosecutor, not at the discretion of the courts.
Although the subclause “to bring into hatred and contempt or exciting disaffection against the Government” is no longer considered an offense and the amendment will decriminalise criticism of the administration of justice, deleting Section 3(1)(c) of the Act, the new proposed amendments is still wide enough where anything can be considered seditious.
And any amendment that allow for rejection of bail if certified by the AG is nothing short of pernicious.
Additionally, inserted punitive amendments against secessionists ignore the need for further engagement – a key ingredient in de radicalisation programs worldwide, as well as, smacks of double standards – as the government consistently engages with separatists’ from Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines respectively. Why should the approach differ when dealing with East Malaysia?
Specifically, Section 3(1)(b) is amended to “make clear” that any calls to demand secession for any States from Malaysia is seditious, although it admits that such demand is already seditious under the current definition.”
By shifting the coverage of the Sedition Act to focus primarily on race and religion, the government is stifling opportunities for rational public discourse on inter-faith issues and race relations. Malaysia has been struggling to overcome division in matters of race, religion and regions, a process aided in part by the vibrant online community that has emerged since the 1990s. Since the bar for offences under the Sedition Act is set as low as “feelings of ill will”, the proposed amendments to Section 10 further put the relative freedom enjoyed by the online press at stake. We have already seen the editors of online news portals taken in for sedition in recent weeks. What is needed is a safe space for honest dialogue, one protected by rights to speech, not the criminalisation of opinion on the whim of those who disagree.
In sum, we not only reject these amendments, we reject the Sedition Act in entirety. The Sedition Act has outlived its colonial purpose and must be repealed. Other laws including the Penal Code are adequate to deal with any real threats.
I demand that all charges and investigations under seditions, especially against MPs who are speaking out on behalf of the rakyat are dropped immediately. Politically charged persecutions against academicians and other activists should also be dropped, especially when the constitutionality of the law itself is being questioned.
NURUL IZZAH ANWAR
LEMBAH PANTAI MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
VICE PRESIDENT AND ELECTION DIRECTOR OF KEADILAN
