IGP, AG, ZAHID NOT PICKED BY NAJIB?: Saifuddin insists PM sincere but blocked by ‘those around him’

KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is being impeded in his effort to repeal the Sedition Act by unnamed individuals who insist that the colonial law should remain, a former deputy minister said today.

Defending the prime minister against accusations of backtracking on the pledge he made two years ago to abolish the law, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah tonight insisted that Najib made the vow sincerely.

“The prime minister has intentions to abolish the (Sedition) Act, but those around him don’t want to agree to the idea… they don’t want to let him‎,” Saifuddin said in his speech, during the launch of the Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan (GHAH) movement here.

“When I was a deputy minister, it was also difficult to amend some laws as my boss did not want it, but in the end, it was done, though not entirely,” the former higher education deputy minister told the crowd.

Saifuddin did not, however, identify the individuals whom he said were stifling the effort to repeal the law.

He said that the contentious law must be done away with, noting that there was a very low threshold before one fell afoul of the law. -Malay Mail