Following is an editorial adapted from NST Online complete with responses by TTF (in blue):
PUTRAJAYA: The Sedition Act 1948 is expected to be abolished this year, said Law Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong.
He said the government has decided in the Cabinet meeting for the act to be abolished and currently looking into various factors for the implementation.
“We want to ensure that not necessarily all statements made can be seditious because we want to ensure certain statements can enjoy some form of freedom… but not that we want to allow everybody to simply make statements that defame our rulers and leaders especially,” he told a recent press conference in conjunction with the first anniversary of the Pakatan Harapan government in power, here.
After the abolition of the Act, Liew said a new formula would be introduced to replace it.
TTF: If the intent is to abolish the act, why are people still being charged under it?
Does Liew’s statement not contradict Gobind Singh’s and Mahathir’s earlier stance that the Act would be retained for the time being?
On the 1st of May 2019, I wrote:
Prior to the 14th general election, Mahathir, together with leaders of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, pledged to get rid of the Act as it was “excessively broad and vague” with restrictions imposed on freedom of speech.
However, on the 3rd of December 2018, the DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo announced that the law would still be in force but would be limited to issues of national security, public order and race relations.
Does this mean that the new formula to replace the Sedition Act will be focused on issues of national security, public order and race relations?
Can Mahathir comment on this?
NST online Continued…
“However, we in Pakatan Harapan do not actually mind if people want to criticise us. Constructive criticism is good for the government because from there we can progress and develop,” he added.
TTF: Rubbish.
I can name you a number of people who were detained under the Sedition Act for criticising government figures.
Ironically, the police has yet to detain several Pakatan Harapan politicians who uttered words far more seditious than those uttered by the aforementioned people.
Two of these politicians are even suspected of having fanned unrest to the point that it claimed the life of a firefighter.
And they’re still roaming around freely while Muslims keep demanding that justice be served.
Adapted from:
