The Sedition Act 1948 is not expected to be tabled for repeal in the current parliamentary sitting because it has yet to receive the green light from the Conference of Rulers.

This was revealed today by de facto Deputy Law Minister Hanipa Maidin.

“Initially, we wanted to revoke the Sedition Act, but I was told that we need to have some negotiations with the Conference of Rulers.

“So maybe the (repeal of the) Sedition Act is going to be presented in the next (parliamentary) session (in 2019),” he told reporters when met at the Anti-Corruption Summit 2018 in Kuala Lumpur.

“For this parliamentary session, I was told we are going to amend, I don’t know, maybe the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, and we have to remove certain clauses,” he added.

Read more: Political Financing Act may be tabled before GE15

Earlier this month, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said that the government would repeal the colonial-era security law in the present sitting of Parliament.

Gobind had also revealed that attorney-general Tommy Thomas was working on the necessary legislation to repeal the law.

Earlier, Hanipa said he expected the long-awaited law on political financing to be tabled “within this term” of the Pakatan Harapan government, declining to offer a specific timeline.

He had been a panellist at a session entitled 'Political Financing Legislation – The Way Forward' alongside Universiti Malaya political economist Terence Gomez and Bersih executive director Yap Swee Seng.