Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has called on voters to punish those who had voted in favour of amendments to further toughen the draconian Sedition Act during the recent parliamentary sessions, in the next general election.

 

“We call upon all Malaysians who are disgusted with the behaviour of the BN government who treated the legislative arm with complete and utter contempt to make their protest heard. 

 

“The most effective way is to identify the MPs who had voted for the Bill and organise a campaign against them. 

 

“In particular, Malaysians should target the MPs who voted for the Bill in constituencies where they won with razor-thin majorities. 

"This list has been published by Malaysiakini yesterday,” said Pua in a statement today.

On April 9, 108 BN MPs voted in favour of amendments to the act that would give broader powers to the authorities, despite Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak making a pre-election promise in 2012 to abolish the act altogether.

"The 108 MPs voted blindly for the amendments despite the vociferous protests from MPs, lawyers, civil society activists, and ordinary Malaysians, within and without the Parliament," said Pua.

Main targets

 

Pua said 11 constituencies belonging to MPs who voted in favour were won with majorities of less than 1,000 votes. 

 

“A concerted campaign by voters in these constituencies over the next two to three years will see these MPs deposed for betraying the democratic rights of Malaysians,” he said.

 

These include federal ministers Gerakan president and Telok Intan MP Mah Siew Keong (238 vote majority in GE13, right ) and MCA president and Bentong MP Liow Tiong Lai (379); and deputy minister and MCA Labis MP Chua Tee Yong (353).

The others are Baram - Anyi Ngau (194), Sungai Besar - Noriah Kasnon (399), Kuala Selangor - Irmohizam Ibrahim (460), Beaufort  - Azizah Mohd Dun (672), Machang - Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (805), Titiwangsa - Johari Abdul Ghani (806), Pasir Gudang - Normala Abdul Samad (935), and Ketereh - Annuar Musa (974).

Pua said another eight had under 2,000 vote majority and had a good chance of being replaced, "with the right amount of effort".

 

They are Kuala Kangsar - Wan Mohammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad (1,082), Bagan Serai - Noor Azmi Ghazali (1,140), Arau - Shahidan Kassim (1,371), Setiawangsa - Ahmad Fauzi Zahari (1,392), Balik Pulau - Hilmi Yahaya (1,539), Tebrau - Khoo Soo Seang (1,767), Kulim Bandar Baru - Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir (1,871), and Sabak Bernam - Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (1,890).

Four others, he said, won because of multi-cornered fights: Pensiangan - Joseph Kurup, Mas Gading - Nogeh Gumbek, Ranau - Ewon Ebin, and Tenom - Raime Unggi.

 

"These are the 23 MPs in marginal seats who voted blindly in favour of the draconian amendments to the Sedition Act.  

"The effort to remove them from Parliament in the next general election starts from today," said Pua.

'Zahid refused to debate'

Pua said strengthening the Sedition Act which had been "widely abused", victimising up to 150 opposition leaders and activists, academics, and journalists, as well as ordinary Malaysians, was a sign of another impending crackdown.

"There are, hence, valid fears that the strengthening of the draconian act was targeting at a further crackdown against dissent against a weak BN government.

He slammed Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for refusing to engage in debate during the marathon sitting, despite protests from MPs.

"Zahid Hamidi repeatedly and blatantly ignored the justified protests by MPs during the debate, including motions to amend the amendments, with the single sentence, ' Tuan Pengerusi, saya tidak berhajat untuk memberikan sebarang ulasan ' (I do not wish to give any comment), in order to expedite the rubber-stamping of the proposed amendments," he said.

Pua called on voters to write to their MPs to voice their discontent over their support of fortifying the colonial-era act.

"Let them know that you will be taking concrete actions to campaign, inform, and persuade your fellow voters to vote against them in the next general election," said the DAP parliamentarian.

He said with a little extra effort, BN could lose these seats and "with a handful of other seats, will be enough to confine Barisan Nasional to the opposition bench for the first time in Malaysian history".