There is no sedition case against former soldier Mohd Ali Baharom because the police failed to provide any audio recording of the alleged inflammatory remark made during Low Yat mall brawl in July, attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali said.

"The actual recording was not enough. It was only a few seconds… We missed the 'seditious' part," Apandi said.

"They couldn't find it. It wasn't forthcoming. I told them, 'this isn't enough, go find more'. They said, 'cannot find'. So that put an end to it," he said in an interview with news portal The Malaysian Insider .

Mohd Ali, who is widely known as Ali Tinju was in July charged with sedition for saying: "Okay, we want justice. This is the dignity of Malays, not because one Chinese boy attacked many Malays. This is Malay land. Unite, and attack the DAP Chinese who are rude."

He was acquitted on Sept 17, after the Attorney-General's Chambers dropped the charge abruptly, due to insufficient evidence.

The decision caused a backlash among the opposition and civil society.

"As the public prosecutor, I go through whatever is presented to me, which is from the IP (investigation papers). From the IP, I found that there was insufficient evidence.

"That makes things difficult. I don't look at this fellow as 'Ali Tinju', I don't even know him. But if there's not enough evidence, there's just not enough evidence," Apandi ( photo ) said in the interview.

AG has absolute discretion

He said he has absolute discretion to pursue a case and denied being influenced by anyone.

Apandi also said the AG's Chambers was reviewing all the cases charged under the Sedition Act to ensure it gets 99 percent chances of securing a conviction before taking the case to court.

Following this, the AG's Chamber is likely to drop one seditous charge against an opposition representative.

"I'm reviewing (the cases)/ In fact there's one case against an opposition member, an elected member... I'm studying the case and will most likely withdraw the charge," Apandi said.

"But if it is more or less not clear, I will withdraw (the charge). Because my stand is I must have a 99 percent chance of success (conviction), then only I will pursue (the charge)."

According to him, the Sedition Act, which is widely criticised, is still relevant.

Apandi also denied that the Sedition was being abused, saying this was merely a public perception.