The one-time de facto law minister added that strong-arm tactics to muzzle dissenters never last, warning that it is “just a matter of time” before the law that critics have repeatedly described as draconian is abolished.
“But all I can say is that the people of this country do not need the Sedition Act.
“This law is used to prevent people like you and me from talking about abuses that affect our country,” the Kelantan-born said in his latest blog posting last night.
The 61-year-old took aim at several Umno ministers whom he noted had defended the recent police arrests against dissenters for alleged sedition, including journalists from news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and their publisher from The Edge Media Group.
Among those he named were Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He noted that Nazri had defended the government’s decision to keep the Sedition Act after promising its repeal as a necessity to protect the royal Malay institution while Ahmad had in an oblique April 1 Facebook posting likened TMI’s news report to the boy who cried wolf.
Zaid mocked Khairy, whose popular image is that of a moderate, for “endorsing” the police round up of the journalists under the Sedition Act.
Four TMI editors and The Edge Media Group CEO were detained overnight earlier this week over their March 26 news report citing anonymous sources claiming the Conference of Rulers had rejected the rollout of PAS-led Kelantan’s Shariah criminal law, which has garnered the support of a number of Umno state and federal lawmakers.
The issue is a hot potato because some conservative Islamic clerics have declared that the country’s Muslims have a religious duty to support the enforcement of Kelantan’s brand of hudud, which prescribes for some extreme punishments such as amputation for theft and stoning for adultery.
Apart from the five newsmen, Universiti Malaya lecturer Khoo Ying Hooi, who is also a columnist for TMI, is also being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation over her article titled “Who owns the police?”
A vocal critic of the Sedition Act, Zaid expressed confidence that the 1948 law will eventually be abolished, saying, “the people always win against corrupt and oppressive leaders, no matter how much force is used to suppress their will”.
“For now the Act can shield them, but without it, the leaders who have wronged this country will be exposed,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment