Kit Siang dares AG to charge him

comments     Claudia Theophilus     Published     Updated

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang has given Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail 48 hours to decide whether to prosecute him for sedition in connection with the "No to 929" pamphlet.

He wants Gani to explain how long more he needs to decide on the matter, given the fact that the arrest had taken place in early June.

"The length of time taken to prosecute me for sedition is not a flattering reflection on the efficiency of the AG's Chambers or Gani himself," he said in a statement today.

Lim said although the police had revoked the RM3,000 police bail, the serious case of sedition was still hanging over his head "as I am told that the AG had not decided on the investigations paper on my arrest".

"This means I can be arrested and prosecuted under the Sedition Act any time."

Lim was arrested by Ipoh police at the Pasir Pinji market on June 5 for distributing pamphlets with "seditious tendency", an offence under the Sedition Act 1948 punishable by a maximum three-year jail sentence, RM5,000 fine or both.

First 3 PMs also guilty

He argued that if it was a seditious offence to say "No to 929" or "No to Islamic state", then the first three Malaysian prime ministers would have been guilty as well.

"Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn had publicly declared that Malaysia was a secular state with Islam as an official religion, and that Malaysia was not an Islamic state."

Lim said in the second phase of the "No to 911", "No to 929", "Yes to 1957" People's Awareness Campaign, the DAP has produced a booklet outlining the reasons for all Malaysians to unite and defend the Merdeka Constitution, the "social contract" and the 1963 Malaysia agreement.

The booklet, he added, also has a poster featuring Tunku Abdul Rahman in his own words in 1983: "Don't turn Malaysia into an Islamic State".



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