A provision under the proposed Sedition Act 1948 amendment will trap opposition politicians and civil society groups with a non-bailable offence, said Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.

The provision states if a person makes a seditious statement that leads to bodily injury or damage to property, and the public prosecutor asks the court not to grant bail, then bail shall not be granted.

The accused would be imprisoned for the duration of his trial until he or she is acquitted, or after he or she has served their jail sentence if the person is subsequently found guilty.

Khalid said this can be used in the run-up of a general election to cripple any group’s attempt to mobilise support against the government.

"This is because those who damage property and cause injuries could be agent provocateurs provided by the government, the special branch, and mercenary 'naughty boys'.

"The innocent organisers and activists would not have a chance for a hearing and be sent straight to jail," he told a press conference at parliament today.

Khalid also lamented that the law again treats the courts as a “rubber stamp”, because judges have no discretion whether to grant bail or not once the public prosecutor makes the request.

This comes just after the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) was passed by the lower house in the wee hours of this morning, which among others stipulates that magistrates must grant remand orders if requested by the relevant government official.

'Smacks of double standards'

Meanwhile, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said an amendment that clarifies that it is seditious to urge the secession of a state “smacks of double standards”.

She said it ignores the need to engage with those urging the secession of Sabah and Sarawak, which is a key part of de-radicalisation programs worldwide.

“As the government consistently engages with separatists from Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines respectively, why should the approach differ when dealing with East Malaysia?” she said.

She added that the amendment’s focus on race and religion also stifles public discourse on interfaith and race relations issues.

“Since the bar for offences under the Sedition Act is set as low as ‘feelings of ill will’, the proposed amendments to Section 10 further put the relative freedom enjoyed by the online press at stake...

“What is needed is a safe space for honest dialogue, one protected by rights to speech, not the criminalisation of opinion on the whim of those who disagree,” she said.

Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Deveraj told the same conference that such laws can cause people to lose faith in democratic processes.

This, he warned, can cause them to resort to violence to further their causes.