Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has turned the tables back to former de-facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim, asking Zaid to reflect if Malaysia is similar to apartheid South Africa.

He also said that as a lawyer, Zaid should know what breaches the "four main areas" of the federal constitution without the need to have it spelled out.

"Ask him (Zaid), he has been a minister and MP. Ask him if the condition here is the same as in South Africa under apartheid or not.

"He should ask himself that. He is a politician," Ahmad Zahid said at the press conference in Pengkalan Kubor yesterday.

He was responding to Zaid who had earlier asked the minister to clearly define what the breaches of the "four main areas" that could land one on the wrong side of the Sedition Act are.

Zaid had said that leaving these not properly defined, Malaysians are faced with a situation worse than in apartheid South Africa where the do’s and don’ts are clearly defined.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid also dodged the question when asked if it is fair to bar Malaysians from questioning the "four main areas".

"He (Zaid) is a lawyer, you ask him that," he said.

The four main areas that the minister had earlier defined are the monarchy, Islam, Bahasa Malaysia and the special position of Malays and bumiputera.

 

The government is using alleged breaches of these areas to charge individuals under the colonial era Sedition Act 1948, primarily used by Britain at the time to stamp out dissent in its colony.

Zaid in his blog post earlier this week sarcastically called the four the "sacred" areas.