An Umno minister has blamed Malaysians for Najib Abdul Razak's decision to maintain the Sedition Act.

In a series of tweets, Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the people failed to give the prime minister the confidence to repeal the Act.

"The PM had the noble will to repeal the Sedition Act, but sadly we Malaysians could not reciprocate his goodwill. We betrayed that trust," he added.

Therefore, the Kota Belud lawmaker said Najib should not be accused of having "flip-flopped".

"It was not easy for the PM to rescind his earlier promise to abolish the Sedition Act.

"We made him do it. He was ready. But we Malaysians were not.

"So don't fret. No need to say flip-flop. It was us, Malaysians, who screwed up a very big opportunity. We didn't live up to it," he added.

The urban well-being, housing and local government minister argued that Najib had no other alternative.

Abdul Rahman said Najib monitored, listened and evaluated the situation.

"He didn't like what he saw. Don't blame him. Blame ourselves.

"No prime minister worth his salt would repeal the Sedition Act after seeing how we could be capable of spewing hatred and venom at each other," the Sabah Umno leader added.

He said that the party has made its stand on this issue.

"Let the people decide in GE14 on our fate. But till then we will secure this nation from mayhem," he added.

Najib, who earlier promised to repeal the Sedition Act, announced at the Umno general assembly this morning that the legislation would be maintained.

Furthermore, the prime minister said the Act would be fortified to safeguard the sanctity of all religions and deal with the secession calls from Sabah.

Najib's decision drew flak from various quarters, who accused him of caving into the demands of extremists and certain factions in Umno.

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