Rights lawyers condemn govt's plan to give 'new life' to Sedition Act

Rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today hit out at the Cabinet decision for a review of the Sedition Act 1948, accusing the government of back-pedalling on its promise to repeal the law following the announcement of amendments to limit its use to matters involving the royal institution. 

LFL campaign coordinator Nabila Khairuddin said that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition had promised during their time in the opposition to repeal the act in the event that they took federal power. 

"In power now, they are brazenly singing a different tune," she added. 

"It is a betrayal of the promise of reform for this government to now back-pedal on its promise to repeal the Sedition Act by purportedly qualifying its use to only matters involving royalty. 

"No such qualifications or conditions were made by Anwar and other PH leaders when they called for the Sedition Act’s repeal. A law such as the Sedition Act, that is anathema to fundamental rights, cannot be amended but must be extinguished."

The government has been under scrutiny of late over its use of the Sedition Act, following charges brought against Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor earlier this month. 

In the latest development, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said said yesterday that the government had agreed in principle to review the Sedition Act to ensure that it is only used to protect the royalty from provocation.

She said other aspects of provocation involving religion and race would also be studied, including the creation of new laws if necessary by taking into consideration the views of the rulers as the heads of Islam as well as the best international practices and principles.

In a statement, Nabila questioned Malaysia's continued use of the Sedition Act, describing it as "an antiquated and draconian piece of legislation that poses a devastating threat to freedom of expression".

"The Sedition Act is so vaguely and widely couched that it is near impossible for a member of the public to know which type of comment will be deemed seditious," she said.
 
"Many commonwealth countries have repealed the backward colonial-era legislation or put it into disuse due to its history of being an instrument of oppression and its broad and vague provisions that has been used over the years as a tool to curtail legitimate expressions of dissent and suppresses freedom of speech."

Urging the government to repeal the Sedition Act in its entirety, she said it should instead embrace "a progressive legal framework that values public discourse and critical discussions, irrespective of the subject matter".

"That the PH-led government is now plotting to give this unjust law a new lease of life is simply appalling and unacceptable," she said.