Kit Siang: Drop all charges under Sedition Act
PETALING JAYA: DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has called Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali to drop all charges under the Sedition Act against various individuals in the country.
He said that while the withdrawal of sedition charge against Universiti Malaya law professor Dr Azmi Sharom, as well as the earlier withdrawal of the sedition charge against Seputeh MP Teresa Kok were 'good news in the past six months', he said that 'these are the only silver lining in the gathering of dark clouds following the sudden and shocking sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail as Attorney-General, with Apandi replacing him.
"I fully agree with Azmi (who reportedly said) that Malaysians are relieved that common sense had prevailed, but this must apply not only in the two cases of Azmi and Teresa, but also in all the other cases where the Sedition Act been used to stifle legitimate dissent and criticism.
"For this reason, I call on Apandi to drop all charges under the Sedition Act against Opposition MPs, civil society activists, lawyers and cartoonists including Zunar," he said this in a statement.
The Gelang Patah MP said that Apandi should heed the outrage and opposition, both in Malaysia and in international circles, and announce an immediate halt to his proposal to increase criminal penalties under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) to punish and deter whistle-blowers and journalists for publishing information to combat corruption.
"It is a total mockery of Malaysia’s commitment to combat corruption, elevating it as one of the six National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) of the National Transformation Programme, the talk about 'Big Results' in the NKRA agenda to combat corruption, and the hosting of the 16th International Anti-Corruption Convention in Putrajaya September 2015 for the government to produce the 'Big Result' to make the OSA the most repressive and draconian law in democratic countries to undermine and even paralyse anti-corruption efforts," he alleged.
Lim added that the Attorney-General’s Chambers should not take a single step forward to draft proposals to increase criminal penalties under the OSA to punish and deter whistle-blowers and journalists from publishing information to combat corruption, unless the Attorney-General is specifically directed, sanctioned or authorised by the Cabinet to do so.
"The AG should not take the sycophantic support of a few Umno ministers to his proposal as Cabinet sanction and authority to amend the OSA to clamp down on whistleblowers and journalists from fighting corruption in Malaysia, which can only further impair Malaysia’s image in the world," he claims.