Minister Shafie backs Treason Act proposal

Rural and Regional Development Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal has given his backing to the proposal to form a special law to deal with acts of treason against the Agong.

"The royal institution is included in the federal constitution and it is a sovereign body. So we do not want it to be ridiculed.

"One good way may be by providing for a law that can stop the vilification of the royal institution," said Shafie (left), who is also an Umno vice-president.

He said this at press conference after officiating a seminar on rural transformation, which was attended by village chiefs from all over Malaysia, in Bangi, Selangor, today.

The proposal for a Treason Act was mooted by former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Noor Abdullah at a seminar on the royal institution that was held last week.

According to Bernama, Mohd Noor had suggested that the minimum penalty for those found to have acted in a treasonous manner against the royal institution be not be less than a jail term of two years.

[More to follow]