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Will Court of Appeal allow my sedition appeal?

For merely pointing out the errors and defects of the Malaysian government on the Indian Malaysia poor as per the Sedition Act and as evidenced by the 2,240 pages in seven volumes spanning over 16 years tendered in court, I have been sentenced to an unprecedented two-and-a-half years’ jail. (Lim Guan Eng previously received the highest sentence at one-and-a-half years' jail, and Karpal Singh’s RM4,000.00 was the highest fine.)

Sixty-two of my witness subpoenas ranging from Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the attorney-general, inspector-general of police, Suhakam, etc, have been denied. I was given two days to complete my defence while the prosecution stage went on for weeks.

On my 16th month in jail I am still wondering what exactly was it I said that amounted to sedition. Zero proof had been adduced by the prosecution to prove my words were of seditious tendencies.

My alleged seditious letter dated Nov 15, 2007 to former British prime minister Gordon Brown in his capacity as a Commonwealth leader about the racist government policies victimising the poor, especially the Indian poor in Malaysia, and the deputy public prosecutor’s mere submission that it is of seditious tendencies seems to be the only proof and this sufficed!

Whether the Court of Appeal will allow my appeal on Sept 17 remains to be seen.

Justice must not only be done but must manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.

Be that as it may, I hope to file an application to the Federal Court to refer a question of law and to pray that the Sedition Act is ultra vires Article 10 of the federal constitution (on freedom of speech).

Note: Even the Ugandan Constitutional Court has struck out their Sedition (Act) provisions as being unconstitutional in the case of Andrew Mujuni Mwenda vs AG.

P Uthayakumar, Kajang Prison

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