'Evidence Act amendment a new political weapon?'

DAP said an amendment to the Evidence Act 2012 passed in the last Dewan Rakyat sitting may open the floodgates of selective prosecution against members of the opposition and civil society.

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was referring to the new Section 114A in the Evidence Act 2012, which assumes a person is guilty if any illegal material originates from his or her network or machine, until it can be proven otherwise.

"The new section 114A creates presumptions of fact, inter alia, that a person who is the subscriber of a network service is the publisher of anything that originates from his network, and that a person who owns or controls a computer is the publisher of anything that originates from his computer, in either case unless he proves otherwise. 

"This means that a person can be found guilty for publishing anything that is posted by a hacker who breaks into his computer or his wifi network, unless he can prove his innocence," he said in a statement today.

This, he said, is the opposite principle of law where an individual is innocent until proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.

"Internet users have been prosecuted under the Communications and Multmedia Act 1998 simply on the basis of statements deemed ‘offensive’ by the government.
 
"Yet no action is taken, despite the lodging of police reports, againstUmno Online and other BN-linked blogs that criminally defamed meand my 16-year-old son for political reasons in October last year," said Lim who is also Penang chief minister.

Thus, he added, the government has had demonstrated a track record that it would not use such wide ranging powers responsibly.

"The DAP has no problem with giving police and prosecutors the tools they need to prosecute cyber-criminals and terrorists. 

"However, the government and the public prosecutor have shown by their past actions that they are more interested in pursuing selective prosecutions against members of the opposition and civil society for political ends than in pursuing real criminals," he said.