Dismay over conviction of Amanah’s Fakhulrazi

The use of the Sedition Act won't stamp out dissent, say opposition and NGO figures.

PETALING JAYA: The conviction of an Amanah Youth official under the Sedition Act has renewed condemnation of the government for keeping the colonial-era law in the books.

Several opposition and NGO figures spoke to FMT about the 8-month prison sentence imposed on Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar and described the Sedition Act as a draconian law that should have been done away with a long time ago.

Fakhrulrazi, who is the deputy chief of Amanah Youth, has been found guilty under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act over a speech that he delivered on February 21 during the #KitaLawan protest.

Amanah Secretary-General Anuar Tahir said he was dismayed that a law introduced by the British was still being used against citizens of a country that has been independent of British rule for more than half a century.

“Fakhulrazi has been sentenced not because he committed treason or stole the people’s money or committed a crime that has led to chaos in the country,” Anuar said. “He is being punished for exercising his right to speak, which is enshrined in the Federal Constitution.”

He claimed that the more the youth were pressured to keep quiet, the braver they would become in speaking their mind.

“This clampdown will not stamp out their fire or turn them into cowards like those who have vested interests, and I am always praying that they will remain firm in their struggle to free this country of such cowards,” he said.

Klang MP Charles Santiago of DAP alleged that there were two standards in the application of laws, one for the elite and the other for the ordinary person.

“We have a major crisis facing the nation, namely the defrauding of the country by the elite, and yet there is no effort to have an open and transparent process in place,” he said.

He described criticism as a “necessary” tool of democracy. “The right to free speech has to be respected at all times. Criticism against the state should be perceived as a right of citizens and necessary for a healthy democratic process.”

Cynthia Gabriel, who heads the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism, agreed with Santiago, saying that as long as the Sedition Act was not repealed there could be no check and balance in the rule of law and democratic practice in the country.

“The Sedition Act is a violation of human rights in terms of the freedom of expression and the people’s right to know and it has no place in a modern democracy,” she said.

“It is being used by executives to create a sense of fear in the people and must be repealed immediately, especially now that the country is facing a massive corruption scandal.”

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok recalled that when Prime Minister Najib Razak came into office he promised reforms which would include the abolition of the Sedition Act.

“What we see today is not only his failure to abolish the act, but also the frequent use of it against the people,” she said.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua predicted that there would be an even broader clampdown on the opposition in days to come.

“We should be prepared,” he told FMT.

Yesterday, Bersih 2.0, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, said in a media statement that Fakhrulrazi’s conviction was another “huge” step backwards for freedom of expression and that Attorney-General Mohd Apandi Ali should not have initiated the charge in the first place.

It also claimed that since Apandi came into office, the majority of sedition cases was over criticism of the government and the administration of justice.