Written by Malaysia Chronicle
MP for Lembah Pantai Nurul Izzah dropped two bombshells on Thursday, the last day of the first session of Parliament following the May 5 general election.
The first was that her Private Members’ Bill filed to repeal the Sedition Act had been rejected by Pandikar Amin Mulia, the Speaker of the House, on the grounds that she had not obtained the consent of the Council of Rulers for her motion.
According to the written reply from Pandikar, the permission of the Council of Rulers was needed as the repeal of the Sedition Act would include the removal Sub-section 3(1)(f) which states the special rights and sovereignty of the Rulers as guaranteed under Clause 181 of the Federal Constitution.
The second bombshell was that Prime Minister Najib had also committed the same “omission” when he announced in July, 2012 his plan to replace the Sedition Act with the National Harmony Act.
As Nurul pointed, Najib not only failed to mention the need to get the Rulers’ consent, he has not made any move to obtain it although more than a year has passed and his Cabinet had just a week ago reiterated their wish to repeal the Sedition Act.
Such a misstep could throw a spanner into the works, warned Nurul,and leave the fate of the plan to repeal the oppressive law hanging.
It would also waste two years of “precious time”, she added, pointing out that her motion was launched only earlier this month on July 1 versus Najib’s effort which was announced in 2012 but with homework done a year before that. The Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance were repealed in 2011 and the Sedition Act remains the sole major piece of oppressive and archaic legislation left in the Malaysian stable of laws.
“As we know, the Prime Minister promised Malaysians in July 2012 the Sedition Act will be abolished to be replaced by a National Harmony Act that no one knows the contents of till today. I submitted on Jul 1, 2013 a bill to abolish the Sedition Act which was replied to by the Speaker today. To my disappointment, the Speaker cited that the removal or abolition of the Sedition Act will also take away the law that will take away the rights of the King and since I have not received the approval of the Majilis Raja Raja, I cannot proceed with its abolition,” she told Malaysia Chronicle at the sidelines of a press conference in the Parliament lobby on Thursday.
“I am quite shocked to see Prime Minister Najib has been really rather tardy in doing his work. As the PM, I would expect him to know the mechanism that would need to take place before you can actually abolish the Sedition Act for example. And if he has not brought to the Majilis Raja Raja, how did he come to the position that he did when he announced its abolition in 2012. This is a serious matter as we depend on our prime minister our steward and leader to fulfill his promises and really increase and enlarge the democratic space in this country in line with the results of the last election results and with his own transformation agenda.
“So, no excuses, we want to see a copy of the National Harmony Act, the new bill that he announced to replace the Sedition Act. We don’t want another session where we have a new bill submitted 3 days before discussion and debate only to have it revoked. We must ensure thorough discussion and debate takes place before any bill is brought to this august House.”
The inside story:
Although Nurul declined to directly say so, a check with some political insiders showed that many in the Opposition believe the BN could not think of a better way to reject Nurul’s bill and hence trotted out the often-used ‘sorry, Rulers’ consent needed’ ruse to throw cold water on her effort.
Among the key reasons why Nurul had submitted her Private Members Bill was to pressure the snails-paced Najib into keeping his promise to repeal the Sedition Act. She had wanted to show that abolition of a law was not as complex and should take as long a time as Najib was taking.
“Previously, I tabled a bill to abolish the Emergency Ordinance. It was rejected but six months later the government abolished the ordinance,” Nurul had said at the same Parliament lobby on July 1, 2013. The sitting had begun on June 25, 2013 and ends today, July 18.
“Normally, a Private Member’s Bill (tabled by the opposition) will not see the light of day. But this is something (the Sedition Act) that the government itself has pledged to do.”
All eyes are now on how Najib will wriggle out from the BN’s self-created corner.
“At the same time by doing this, they are also putting Najib in a tight spot. He will now have to find an excuse as to why he can be allowed by Pandikar to push his repeal through while Nurul was rejected,” the insider told Malaysia Chronicle.
Malaysia Chronicle
http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=131232:sedition-act-nurul-drops-two-bombshells-on-the-last-day-of-the-1st-parliament-sitting#axzz2ZPFGNEUG
