YOURSAY ‘This is authoritarianism under the flimsiest veil of democracy.’

Rayer slapped with two sedition charges

Malaccan: A politician from one party condemning a rival party. Only in Malaysia would this constitute a seditious act since the party condemned is the one in power, and the attorney-general (AG) who is pressing these charges is widely seen as a stooge of said party. Authoritarianism under the flimsiest veil of democracy.

The AG appears to have lost all his courage and dropped the pretense of being independent and exposed his subservience to BN after being soundly ticked off by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and right-wing NGO Perkasa, with the backing of the deputy prime minister.

Is there any high civil servant or official who has integrity and courage left? Already the top leaders in the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Armed Forces have shown their allegiance to BN, in addition to Agong and country.

Vasudevan: Even Hang Tuah would have been charged with sedition. “Cis, celaka kau Jebat, menderhaka kepada sultan.” Better change all textbooks to remove ‘celaka’ from our literature.

Ferdtan: So one of the seven purported complaints of Dr Mahathir Mohamad against PM Najib Abdul Razak that led him to withdraw his support for him as PM is indirectly solved with the many arrests of the opposition leaders using the draconian Sedition Act?

Mahathir was not happy with the current PM when he abolished his favourite powerful 'catch-all' detention law, the Internal Security Act (ISA), which had in the past effectively put many opposition leaders behind bars. Mahathir also accused Najib of being too soft on the opposition.

So is Najib sending a message to Mahathir that he is not soft, that he can also be tough by wantonly charging dissidents under the sedition law?

Is it possible for the NGOs to start candlelight vigils, like the successful anti-ISA protests, to highlight the evils of the law that trample on the human rights?

Haris Ibrahim of People's Parliament, you had been successful before with the previous anti-ISA protests, care to lead?

Swipenter: What seditious and provocative words did DAP's Seri Delima assemblyperson RSN Rayer utter compared to the hate and violence incitement speeches of Perkasa and Isma?

No selective case of harassment and prosecution by the authorities can be more blatant than this. Really ‘celaka’.

4W4K3N1N6: Only in Malaysia can someone justify their misconduct or wrongdoing by blaming someone else had provoked them and charging that someone with sedition.

Durio Zibethinus: What about the Umno guys who stormed into the assembly while it is in sitting? Treason?

Hang Babeuf: Yes, quite reasonable - reasonable and consistent for the unreasonable "lords" of a land being led ever deeper into unreason.

Can you imagine somebody in the UK being charged with sedition for exclaiming "Stuff the Tories!" or "Bugger the Labour Party!" or "Damn the Liberal Democrats!"?

There, it would be seen as crazy. Here, it's consistent and apparently "reasonable".

My Opinion : ‘Lex injusta non est lex’ - an unjust law is not a law. It need not be heeded by the citizen. I hope the judge concerned had studied jurisprudence.

Wira: Since when is calling another politician ‘celaka’ seditious? If at all, this is a civil case with a civil remedy.

Any judge worth his salt will throw this charge out of the window. I suggest the AG should be more prudent when dealing with such demands from Umno.

Waktamnoko: Rayer, just defend yourself in court. You should have expected that your opponent would pull out all the stops to kill you off politically. If this is the best you can do, whining like a cry baby, than you really do not belong where you are now.

Boonpou: From Malaysia Boleh to Sedition Land. This is only the natural progression of this country.

Ren Ai: The ingredients for public disorder are being slowly but surely added by a weak ruling but conniving government under the guise of upholding the law. Desist and come to your senses, politicians, extremists and PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police).

Victor Johan: It is time now for the AG’s Chambers to list down and make public all words and phrases that are deemed as seditious. Please don't have any ambiguous situation.

All these dubious seditious charges only go to show that Umno is scared stiff of losing its grip on power in the coming years.

Speak for All: It looks like by the end of this year, all the 80-plus Pakatan MPs will be charged with sedition and disqualified before the 14th general election (GE14). Better watch out, you MPs, because Santa Claus AG is in town.

Vijay47: The way things are going, I would suggest that DAP and PKR set up office in the court premises. That would make it easier for them to attend the many sedition and other charges they would be slapped with.

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