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Group reminds new gov't of promise to reform archaic laws
Published:  Mar 2, 2020 9:21 AM
Updated: 3:21 AM

A civil society group has called on authorities to cease all investigations which unduly interfered with an individual's right to freedom of expression, amid recent political developments over the last eight days.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) reminded authorities of the previous Pakatan Harapan's government commitment to repeal the Sedition Act and amend archaic provisions governing online freedom of expression.

LFL director Melissa Sasidaran (above) in a statement said the new government should continue to respect the commitment to reforms, in the wake of fresh investigations under the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

"We remind the police that the unprecedented abuse of these laws during former prime minister Najib Razak’s reign marked the worst period for freedom of expression in the history of our nation.

"We must never allow Malaysia to return to those dark days when such violations were the norm," she said in response to a police statement yesterday that they are investigating three persons under both the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for social media postings relating to the current political situation.

"These investigations are examples of the vague and indiscriminate nature of the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which allow the authorities to arbitrarily interpret anything contentious as criminal, thus allowing them to clamp down on critical or dissenting opinions," she said.

Bukit Aman CID director Huzir Mohamed yesterday confirmed investigations against three individuals accused of having allegedly insulted the Yang di-Pertuan Agong thorough their postings on social media.

He said the police were also investigating a status that contained elements of sedition uploaded by a Twitter account owner under the name "Fadiah Nadwa Fikiri @FadiahNadwa".

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