HOW TO TRUST NAJIB? Why no action against Waytha - Guan Eng

Newly sworn-in Senator P. Waythamoorthy should face the same action as his brother P. Uthayakumar, who was jailed two years and six months yesterday for penning seditious remarks, Lim Guan Eng suggested today.

The DAP secretary-general expressed regret that one brother who had turned Barisan Nasional-friendly got off scot-free while another brother who was not BN-friendly was penalised.

“I am not criticising the court decision but criticising BN for taking action against Uthayakumar but did not take action against Waythamoorthy and had instead appointed him a senator and made him a deputy minister when he had said the same seditious remarks,” Lim said in a press conference at Town Hall.

Yesterday, the KL Sessions Court sentenced Indian rights leader Uthayakumar to jail for penning seditious remarks in his letter to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007.

Uthayakumar, a former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, was convicted of publishing the seditious material to Brown between November 15 and December 8, 2007.

He was charged under section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948.

Lim said he himself was a victim of the same Act previously where he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail.

“If Uthayakumar was wrong for writing seditious remarks, his brother should also face the same action,” the Penang chief minister said.

He asked why similar action was not taken against pro-BN leaders who had uttered similar racist and seditious remarks while swift action was taken against anti-BN leaders.

“Why do pro-BN people have immunity against any action under the Sedition Act?” he asked.

Uthayakumar’s sentencing came just hours after his brother and fellow Indian rights activist Waythamoorthy was sworn in as a senator.

The brothers had fallen out on the eve of the just-concluded Election 2013 when Waythamoorthy turned BN-friendly after the government lifted its ban on Hindraf, the Hindu rights movement they helped found.

Both men had marched together during the historic Hindraf rally in November 2007, but Waythamoorthy fled the country shortly after and went into self-exile. His brother, Uthayakumar, was arrested under the ISA the following month.

- The Malaysian Insider