MUDA and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) have called for the abolishment of the Sedition Act 1948 in line with the promises of reform made by the current government.
Describing the law as “draconian” and “ancient” both parties rejected the use of the Act against caretaker Kedah menteri besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, adding that it was time Malaysia followed in the footsteps of other Commonwealth countries and abolish the colonial-era law.
“First of all, we strongly reject the statement made by Sanusi on the state of the political ceramah as it was immature and shallow,” said both parties in a joint statement today (July 18).
“MUDA and PSM uphold the Federal Constitution which is the cornerstone of the country’s democratic system.
“However, we reject the use of the Sedition Act on him, and call for the Act to be abolished. The draconian and ancient Act which was legislated by the British colonisers to retain their power must be abolished. In fact, the United Kingdom had this Act abolished since the 1970s.”
The joint statement was signed by MUDA president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj.
The parties, which entered an electoral understanding recently to work together in the six upcoming state elections, said other Acts could be used to tackle similar cases in future.
Both parties also questioned the police’s decision to arrest Sanusi at 3am on Tuesday despite the fact that he could have been ordered to present himself to the police station.
“The Madani government headed by the Pakatan Harapan coalition has long fought for the abolishment of this Act and had in fact written this in its manifesto,” they remarked.
“We cannot just be idealists when we are the opposition and then abandon the principles once we are in power.”
According to Sanusi’s political secretary Hilmi Abd Wahab, Sanusi was detained at a hotel in Mont Kiara here in the wee hours of the morning.
Sanusi was arrested by a team from the Selangor Criminal Investigation Department (JSJ) at around 2.30am this morning (July 18).
He was then taken in a Toyota Fortuner four-wheel drive vehicle belonging to the police and escorted by other vehicles belonging to the Selangor JSJ Contingent heading towards the Gombak District Police Headquarters (IPD).
Sanusi was then taken to the Selayang Court Complex where he was slapped with two charges under the Sedition Act over a political speech he made on July 11. He pleaded not guilty to both charges. – July 18, 2023
