Karpal aware of seditious nature of his statement against sultan, court told

The late Karpal Singh was found guilty of sedition in March 2014. He died the following month in a car crash. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 22, 2016.

The late Karpal Singh should have been "intelligent" enough to know the consequences of his statement against the then Sultan of Perak at the height of the 2009 constitutional crisis in the state, the Court of Appeal heard today in arguments against his sedition conviction and sentencing.

Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud said Karpal, being an "intelligent person", would have known that his words were not only directed at the ruler, the late Sultan Azlan Shah, but also the royal institution.

He said the statement would have been defamatory if it were directed at an ordinary person.

"Karpal's conduct has a seditious tendency as he was able to foresee the effect of his act that could excite disaffection to the ruler," Awang Armadajaya told the appellate court’s three-man bench led by Datuk Mohtaruddin Baki.

The prosecution was rebutting the defence who is appealing against the conviction and sentence of RM4,000 fine imposed on Karpal in 2014.

Karpal was DAP national chairman and Bukit Gelugor MP at his passing that year after he was convicted.

The prosecutor further said the Sedition Act 1948 was akin to preventive laws passed under Article 149 of the Federal Constitution to prevent any act prejudical to public order and national security.

"Although it is a pre-Merdeka law, the Sedition Act could be used to handle such serious problems," he added.

Awang Armadajaya, however, conceded that the issue was not the law, but how it was used, alluding to claims by the opposition that the colonial-era legislation was being abused to silence criticism against the establishment.

He said the Sedition Act, although passed before Malaya obtained independence from the British, was still a valid legislation to be enforced.

"It could be modified through the legislative process in Parliament which had been done last year or through judicial interpretation."

He added it would be absurd to claim that the legislation was unconstitutional as Article 10 (2) states that the legislature could impose restriction on free speech, assembly and association.

Lawyer Gobind Sigh Deo, in reply to the prosecution, said Karpal's conviction was unconstitutional as the Sedition Act totally prohibited freedom of expression and speech.

He said the judge did not consider that Karpal was merely giving his legal opinion.

"Karpal was only pointing an error on the part of the ruler (the Sultan of Perak), although he might not have used temperate language," Gobind said.

Gobind said Karpal had read out a statement during a press conference in his office, when he said the ruler had the prerogative to appoint a menteri besar.

However, the human rights and constitutional lawyer, who is also DAP's Puchong MP, said it could only be done if there was a valid vacancy.

Karpal, who died in April 2014, committed the offence at his legal firm in Jalan Pudu Lama, Kuala Lumpur, on February 6, 2009.

He had said the removal of PAS's Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the Perak menteri besar by the ruler could be challenged in court.

Karpal’s defence was that he offered a legal opinion and not a threat to the ruler, Sultan Azlan Shah, once the Lord President of the Supreme Court.

On June 11, 2010, High Court judge Datuk Paduka Azman Abdullah acquitted Karpal without calling for his defence.

Azman said the prosecution failed to prove the ingredients stated under Section 3 (1) of the Sedition Act, on the tendency to incite hatred, insult or disloyalty to the ruler.

The judge said the DAP national chairman had merely given his opinion by referring to provisions in the Perak constitution and legal provisions from court decisions.

However, on January 20, 2012, a three-man Court of Appeal, chaired by Datuk Ahmad Maarop, ordered Karpal to enter his defence after allowing an appeal by the prosecution.

The court then found Karpal guilty on February 21, 2014, for uttering seditious words against the Sultan of Perak.

On March 11 that year, Karpal was fined despite the then deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badarudidn pressing for a deterrent sentence.

The DAP stalwart died in an accident along the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung on April 17, 2014.

His widow Gurmit Kaur, who is also the administrator of her late husband’s estate, is now the substitute appellant.

The court today reserved judgment.

- TMI