'Abolish Sedition Act', Muda reminds Harapan of reform agenda

Muda has urged the coalition government, especially Pakatan Harapan, to stick to its reform agenda to abolish the Sedition Act.

Muda secretary-general Amir Hariri Abd Hadi questioned Harapan’s commitment to repeal the act after fighting against it since they were in the opposition.

Amir (above) also reminded Harapan politicians of the Abolish the Sedition Act Movement (Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan) - which opposition leaders backed at that time, along with hundreds of NGOs – that made three demands.

“Firstly it was to abolish the Sedition Act 1948. Secondly, it was to drop all charges under the Sedition Act and release those detained, and thirdly, the abolishment of the act cannot be replaced with another act that is equally oppressive.

“We like to remind that the use of the Sedition Act had increased 1,000 percent from 2012 to 2015, since the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA), which showed how it was used for political purposes.

“Those who were investigated and prosecuted at that time were politicians and opposition activists, who are now part of the government,” Amir said in a statement today.

This came after the Court of Appeal this morning rejected preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin’s appeal to quash his conviction over a 2014 sedition case linked to the Selangor sultan.

However, the bench unanimously allowed Wan Ji’s appeal to reduce his sentence, which the Kuala Lumpur High Court previously enhanced. He will only need to serve nine months in jail.

When Harapan and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim were in the opposition bloc, they promised to abolish the Sedition Act when they got into power.

On July 25, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said revealed that the cabinet had agreed in principle to study amendments to the Sedition Act 1948.

Azalina said that the review is to ensure the legislation is only used to protect the royal institution from acts of provocation.

Putrajaya’s decision had since drawn brickbats from many quarters.

‘Extinguish, don’t amend’

Human rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) had slammed the federal government for planning to review the Sedition Act and amend it to protect the royal institution instead of repealing the law altogether.

LFL campaign coordinator Nabila Khairuddin said: “It is a betrayal of the promise of reform for this government to now backpedal on their promise to repeal the Sedition Act by purportedly qualifying its use to only matters involving royalty.”

She took Anwar and other Harapan leaders to task, saying no such qualifications or conditions were made when they called for the repeal of the act.

“A law such as the Sedition Act that is anathema to fundamental rights cannot be amended but must be extinguished,” she added.

According to Nabila, the sedition law enacted during the colonial era was once used to oppress national freedom fighters and it now belongs to the “trash heap of history”.

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