Selangor will defend the rights of state assemblypersons and state officers to speak up in order to carry out their duties without fear, Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said today.

This was one of the reasons the state was stepping in to help defray the legal costs that would be incurred by Sri Muda assemblyperson Shuhaimi Shafiei in the sedition charge against him, Khalid said.

ceramah selamatkan malaysia pas shah alam 090111 khalid ibrahim By doing so, the state was actually defending the rights of assemblypersons and state officers to speak out.

"We are helping him (Shuhaimi) in view of the charge against him. Assemblypersons have the right to be able to speak out.

"We want assemblypersons and state officers to be able to carry out their duties without fear," the MB ( right ) said after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting in Shah Alam.

However, Khalid stressed that the state was not footing the bail imposed on Shuhaimi.

"We are only paying for the legal fees," he explained.

'Normal practice for state to help'

It is actually normal practice, he added, for the state to help state officers with legal representation and that the state "will also help even if it is a normal government officer".

Nevertheless, the Bandar Tun Razak assemblyperson cautioned state officers and assemblypersons to have the discipline not to spew statements without forethought.

Khalid said this in response to criticism from several quarters after the state announced that it would help to pay for Shuhaimi's legal representation in his ongoing sedition trial.

Shuhaimi, who is assistant to the exco for agricultural modernisation, environmental management and entreprenuer development Yaakop Sapari, has been charged under section 4(1) of the Sedition Act for a blog posting that has been considered seditious.