The Sedition Act 1948 does not require consent from the Conference of Rulers before it can be amended or repealed, said human rights NGO Promotion of Human Rights (Proham) secretary-general Denison Jayasooria.

He said the issue was probably raised as a deliberate attempt to distort the arguments about whether to retain or abolish the act.

“I think there is a deliberate attempt to fool the Malays. It is actually the Malay community that they (are targeting). The Malay groups feel very strong about the monarchy...

“They (the groups) are not giving the full argument. We are not having a media that is holding people accountable. They are not holding talk shows (which) are independent, raising the questions and concerns.

“You are faced with a problem: If ‘A’ says that, that seems to be the truth (but) ‘A’ and ‘B’ are not meeting together,” he said yesterday.

Denison ( right ) said this when met by reporters after moderating a roundtable discussion on the Sedition Act, and was asked to comment on a statement by Malay Consultative Council (MPM) chairperson Aziz Abdul Rahman.

MPM, which is urging that the Sedition Act be retained or improved, reportedly said that the Conference of Rulers' consent is necessary before the act can be amended or repealed.

“Many people talk about repealing the Sedition Act but none of them talked about Article 159 (5). It is not a simple matter to repeal law as they say this is a serious issue.

“The issue is therefore whether it is wise to debate and argue about the repeal of the Sedition Act when the Conference of Rulers has not been consulted.

“Even, if the government wants to improve and strengthen the law, they have to get the Conference of Rulers' consent,” Bernama quoted Aziz Abdul as saying on Saturday.

Denison countered that under the federal constitution, only certain provisions of the constitution require the Conference of Rulers' consent, and the Sedition Act is not even a part of the constitution.

Under Article 159 (5) of the constitution, among the provisions that require the rulers' consent before changes are made include those relating to certain restrictions on the freedom of expression, provisions related to citizenship, the powers of the Conference of Rulers, parliamentary privilege, the national language, and the special position of the bumiputera.

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