Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu said the government has assured him and Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah that Section 114A of the Evidence Act will not be abused.

NONE The assurance, he said, was given by Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister in the Prime Minister's Department, when Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin summoned him and Saifuddin to his office yesterday over their dissenting views on the clause.

"We have been assured and we take good the word from the de facto law minister (Nazri) that he will see to that.

"Let's see what happens, I don't want to prejudge," Gan told Malaysiakini by phone today.

As such and as he is a member of the government, Gan said, he will for now abide by the cabinet decision to retain the clause in the Evidence Act and will observe its implementation.

Gan noted that law enforcement agencies would not be so "stupid" to prosecute the innocent but stressed that he would raise the matter again should the law be abused.

"I would personally prefer the words (of Section 114A) to be less general and more specific. That would be ideal... But I have to abide by the cabinet decision," he said.

"If there is any sign of wrongdoing during law enforcement that creates fear and terror, then of course I will raise it again."

Concerns conveyed

Gan said the meeting "went well" and he had conveyed his concerns about the possibility that innocent people may be wrongly accused under the amendment as well as MCA's stance for guidelines with regard to the law.

"We have to ensure we must not allow the innocent to be victims from this. There is always fear - whether real or imaginary - that there might be abuse in future," he said.

azlan He noted that Muhyiddin and Nazri had also given their assurance that the government would engage further with bloggers, as well as with the Centre for Independent Journalism, to ensure them that the law would be implemented fairly.

Gan had spoken out against Section 114A on the day that the Centre for Independent Journalism had launched its Internet Blackout Day to campaign against the provision.

Under Section 114A, the owner of an Internet network is presumed guilty of any "illegal activity" conducted through the network.

Also, if one's name or picture appears alongside any online article, that person will be presumed to be the owner of that publication. The onus will be on the accused to prove otherwise.

Critics contend that the amendment is against the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty'.

 

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