KUALA LUMPUR: The government is still reviewing the Sedition Act 1948 and has yet to decide on whether it should be amended or abolished, said Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin acknowledged that the government is still committed and looking into what Pakatan Harapan had promised before the elections.
“We are still in the reviewing process. At the moment, we haven’t reached a decision on whether the act should be repealed or amended,“ he told reporters
at the Parliament lobby here today.
Muhyiddin was asked to comment on the enhanced sentence under the act after independent preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin was jailed for insulting the Selangor sultan on Facebook seven years ago.
“This is a court case. Maybe Wan Ji was charged because the act has not been repealed.
“I don’t want to talk about the decision of the court because it will be a contempt of court,“ he said.
In the Shah Alam High Court yesterday, Wan Ji failed to strike out his conviction by the Sessions Court and ended up being slapped with an additional three months jail on top of his initial sentence of nine months. He began his year-long sentence yesterday.
Wan Ji is the sole breadwinner to a family of five children.
Civil society blamed Wan Ji’s plight on Pakatan Harapan’s failure to repeal the act.
National Human Rights Society (Hakam) chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan also has criticised the decision.
Earlier, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also told reporters that the government was looking into the act.
“After we have studied the act, we will bring it to Parliament,“ he said when asked on the repeal process.
On a separate matter, Muhyiddin expressed hope that the Johor palace will not interfere in state’s administrative affairs, after the Johor government made two U-turns in the span of two days on whether it wanted the maximum age for youths to be 30 or 40.
Muhyiddin said he was informed that the palace had given its views on the matter, but believed that the state government should be given space to implement policies that are consistent across the country.
“I ask the Johor mentri besar and state executive council to meet the palace to explain the matter. It is hoped that the palace will not interfere. They can give their views, and we respect their views but we have to streamline our policies across the states,“ he said.
On Monday, a statement issued in the name of Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Sahruddin Jamal announced that the state will not follow the federal government’s redefinition of the maximum age of youths from 40 to 30.
A day later, Sahruddin chaired an executive council meeting, with councillor Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali and announced that the mentri besar had consented for the state to comply with the new age limit of 30.
However, the same night, the executive councillor in charge of youth, sports, entrepreneurs development and cooperatives Sheikh Umar issued another statement reverting to the initial age limit of 40 after receiving “advice from several parties”.
Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim also uploaded a photograph of him with Sahruddin and Sheikh Umar on the same night.
Last Wednesday, the Dewan Rakyat approved the Youth Societies and Youth Development (Amendment) Bill 2019 which redefined youths as being aged between 15 and 30, instead of 15 and 40.
