Malaysia: Sedition Act Wielded to Silence Opposition
Government Campaign Violates Free Expression Rights
(Bangkok, September 15, 2014) – The
Malaysian
government should cease using the country’s sedition
law to arbitrarily arrest opposition lawmakers, activists, and critical
academics, Human Rights Watch said today. Since 2013, at least 14
people have been charged under the Sedition Act 1948 for criticizing the
government or government officials. Those found
guilty face up to five years in prison and a fine of RM 5,000
(US$1,600).
The government of Prime Minister Najib Razak should repeal the
Sedition Act, which has repeatedly been used to prosecute people for
political purposes in violation of the right to freedom of expression,
Human Rights Watch said.
“The Malaysian government is increasingly using the Sedition Act to
instill fear and silence in political opponents and critics,” said
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights
Watch. “Prime Minister Najib’s crackdown on free expression has shown his true rights-abusing colors.”
The Sedition Act prohibits vague offenses such as uttering “any
seditious words” without defining what constitutes “sedition” or
“seditious words.” It broadly outlaws any “seditious tendency” that
would “bring into hatred or contempt or excite disaffection
against any Ruler or against any Government.”
In the period before the general election on May 5, 2013, Prime
Minister Najib repeatedly said that he would lead an effort to repeal
the Sedition Act and replace it with a so-called Harmony Act. However,
following the election, in which the ruling coalition
the Barisan Nasional retained power despite major losses in the
national parliament, he retreated from his pledge.
Malaysian authorities have used the vaguely worded act to charge
four opposition members of parliament with sedition, including Party
Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Vice President Tian Chua and Democratic Action
Party (DAP) Vice President Teresa Kok.
On August 19, 2014, the authorities charged PKR Vice President N.
Surendran with sedition in connection with a statement to the media
attacking the decision of the appeals court. A second sedition charge
was brought against him on August 29 for alleging
that the renewed sodomy charges against his client, the parliamentary
opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, were “an attempt to jail the opposition
leader of Malaysia,” and that Prime Minister Najib was responsible.
On August 26, the authorities charged Khalid Samad, a member of
parliament from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), with sedition for
allegedly critical remarks he made regarding the Selangor state sultan
and the State Islamic Affairs Council. Khalid
had called for reviews of laws after the state council failed to abide
by the attorney general’s decision that Iban and Malay-language Bibles
seized by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department must be returned to
the Bible Society of Malaysia.
In June, authorities charged Kok
with sedition for her Chinese New Year video “Onederful Malaysia CNY
2014,” which depicts Kok as host of the program with three volunteers
playing characters before a small audience. The video makes no mention
of any individual or the government.
The DAP Penang State Assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer was charged on August 27 for allegedly saying “celaka celaka
UMNO” (“damn, damn UMNO”) to several state assemblymen of the United
Malays National Organization (UMNO) during an assembly session in May.
On September 3, the authorities brought sedition charges against
David Orok, a politician from the state of Sabah, claiming that he
defamed Islam and the Prophet on Facebook. He has pleaded not guilty and
apologized on his Facebook page, but the authorities
confiscated his passport and the court released him on RM 7,000
($2,200) bail.
The authorities charged five activists and Tian Chua with sedition
for remarks made on May 13, 2013, at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor
Chinese Assembly Hall. The group had accused the government of pervasive
voter fraud and suggested that under current election
regulations, the opposition coalition could never win an election. On
September 5, 2014, a Kuala Lumpur sessions court sentenced Safwan Anang,
former chair of Malaysian Students Solidarity, an activist group, to 10
months in prison, although he was released
on RM 15,000 ($4,700) bail pending his appeal. Cases are still pending
against Tian, the activists Hishamuddin Rais, Haris Ibrahim, and Tamrin
bin Abdul Ghfar, and the student leader Adam Adli.
The government is also prosecuting academics and journalists under
the Sedition Act. On September 1, Dr. Azmi Sharom, a University of
Malaya professor, was charged with sedition for comments related to a
political event five years ago. On September 10,
a group of academics and students organized a public rally on Azmi’s
behalf and to decry the threat the Sedition Act poses to academic
freedom. The Attorney General’s Chambers announced that it would review
the sedition charge against Azmi and possibly others.
On September 4, the authorities arrested Susan Loone, assistant editor at
Malaysiakini, an online newspaper critical of the government and
ruling coalition, on suspicion of sedition for her article that included
statements by Phee Boone Poh, a Penang State executive councilor. Loone
was held and interrogated for nine hours before
being released on bail. Police had earlier detained Phee because of his
role as chairman of the Penang People’s Voluntary Patrol, an auxiliary
force connected with the state government that the inspector general of
police alleges is illegal. The story reported
Phee saying that during four hours of police questioning he was
“treated like a criminal.”
The government has also investigated several senior opposition
politicians but ultimately charged them with sections of the penal code
that severely restrict expression. On August 28, the authorities charged
Rafizi Ramli, a senior member of the PKR and
member of parliament, with article 504 of the penal code, which
criminalizes “intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the
peace.” The charge was based on statements he made in a newspaper
article that suggested that UMNO was attempting to undermine
and destroy the PKR leadership in Selangor State by using policies
emphasizing race and religion.
Similarly, on August 25, authorities charged the former Perak State
Governor Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, from the opposition PAS party, for
defaming Prime Minister Najib in remarks he made in Ipoh in April 2012.
“The Malaysian government has apparently decided that its vaguely
worded Sedition Act is its new catch-all charge against its most vocal
critics,” Robertson said. “Prime Minister Najib should realize that
throwing activists and opposition leaders in jail
for what they say is a slippery slope to authoritarian rule.”
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Malaysia, please visit:
www.hrw.org/asia/malaysia
Myanmar junta chief to make first visit to China since seizing power
-
General Min Aung Hlaing will travel to the influential neighbouring nation
for regional summits.
15 minutes ago
No comments:
Post a Comment