In his Facebook posting, Tan said this was the best way to fight Umno, by leaving the country and starting afresh elsewhere.
"More and more persecuted Malaysian dissidents realise that there is simply no sense sitting in prison to rot," Tan said.
"It is a total waste of time. It is pointless and completely useless to the political struggle to sit in prison.
"Even from the dubious symbolic 'martyr value', there are enormous opportunity costs of being completely impotent in prison for years.
"Fight the good fight from abroad," said Tan.
It was reported yesterday that Anything But Umno (ABU) activist Ali, who is facing prosecution for sedition, had sought political asylum in Sweden.
Tan also poked fun at Malaysian border authorities, pointing out that Ali fled via the porous Malaysia-Thailand border at Danok.
Ali spent more than 20 days in police custody last month after being arrested by police for allegedly posting seditious material on social media.
His police roadshow, which saw him arrested and re-arrested by authorities, saw him spending time in holding cells in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor.
Ali faces three sedition charges for allegedly insulting the Johor royalty and the Sultan of Selangor in his Facebook postings.
He has been accused of posting seditious remarks on a Facebook page called "Kapitalis Bangsat" that allegedly belittled the Johor sultanate.
Ali was first detained on September 8 and has since been in police custody in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Johor until he was finally released on September 29.
Ali's ordeal captured the attention of Amnesty International that later led him to be adopted as a Prisoner of Conscience (PoC).
The global human rights body said the move was to ensure he did not suffer further punishment or selective prosecution.
It was reported that the body's outfit in Sweden was making arrangements for Ali to be given legal representation.
Amnesty International said it has also activated a rapid response mechanism at the international level to pressure Putrajaya to stop criminalising free speech and opinion.
Tan, 26, had been the first to seek political asylum in the United States, which came to light after he posted it on his Facebook page.
Tan and his former partner, Vivian Lee, were facing criminal charges under the Sedition Act as well as the Film Censorship Act for their controversial online uploads.
These included a photo deemed insulting to Islam on Facebook, which had been posted during the fasting month of Ramadan.
The couple, who came to be known as "Alvivi", were jointly accused of uploading a photo of themselves eating the herbal pork soup dish, bak kut teh, with the caption "Selamat berbuka puasa" (Happy breaking fast) as it was posted during the Ramadan month.
The couple regained temporary possession of their passports on May 18, but only Lee showed up on June 3 to return it.
The Sessions Court has issued a warrant of arrest for Tan and forfeited his RM20,000 bail after he failed to return his passport on August 22.
By Lee Shi-ian
No comments:
Post a Comment