Are we seeing Ops Lalang 2?

Teresa Kok accuses Najib of abandoning his pledge to make Malaysia the best democracy in the world.

KUALA LUMPUR: The current government crackdown on dissent is reminiscent of the infamous Operasi Lalang of 1987, according to DAP vice-chair Teresa Kok.

In a press statement reacting to this morning’s prosecution of Universiti Malaya academic Azmi Sharom, she said, “It is clear now that the government has become so intolerant that the dragnet has included an academician.”

Azmi has been charged under the Sedition Act over his remarks on the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis.

Kok said: “Malaysians who were already shocked with the slew of sedition charges against opposition lawmakers and angry with the unnecessary, highhanded police arrest of PPS (Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit) members on August 31 are now asking what has happened to this country and where is the country heading?

“Has the 1987 Ops-Lalang-like crackdown started with sedition being used as a new weapon against the opposition and dissidents?”

She accused Prime Minister Najib Razak of “totally abandoning” his pledge to make Malaysia the best democracy in the world and asked: “Is Malaysia going to face another political dark age worse than the period under the premiership of Tun Dr Mahathir?”

Referring to a recent letter from the Prime Minister’s Office, she noted the government’s reiteration of its pledge to replace the Sedition Act with the National Harmony Act, but said: “The absence of new laws should not be an excuse for the continued use and abuse of the Sedition Act.”