AG Taichi : If No More Prosecutions What Then Is The Purpose Of The Sedition Act?

The AG actually said he was unaware of Wan Ji’s sedition case because it was a carry over from the last government pre GE 14.

Mr AG surely you must have management meetings with your staff where they brief you about all the cases that are going on. Or someone in your own office will know about this case. Wan Ji was Lim Guan Eng’s Special Officer (??) handling religious affairs in Penang. 

You are the AG. If you don’t know what goes on inside your own Chambers then who else is expected to know?  From Perlis to Sabah we have only one AG. Using your logic the Defense Minister can say ‘Don’t ask me about ESSCOM and the Lahad Dato incursion. That happened before my time.’ 

Anyway the Press has reported the AG as saying (and as an opinionated writer I really appreciate what the AG has said) the following :

NO prosecutions under the Sedition Act have taken place since the new government took power last year, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas said today. He also said the much-criticised cross appeal by the public prosecutor for a stiffer punishment in the case of independent preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin was made before the 14th general election (GE14).

My Comments : Again a very big thank you to Mr Tommy Thomas for saying this. The AG is actually implying that he will not be prosecuting anyone under the Sedition Act.

Clearly Mr Tommy Thomas was most certainly among those  (like me) who campaigned over the past many, many years that the Sedition Act should be abolished.

As Ustaz Wan Ji Wan Hussin clearly put it ‘Akta Hasutan memperbodohkan orang’ (or words close to that effect).  It makes the people stupid. It makes the Malay folks especially ‘diperbodohkan’.

As far as deciding prosecutions the Cabinet and even the Prime Minister are irrelevant. At least this is what the law says.  The sole prerogative to prosecute or not lies with the AG. 

Since the AG is not keen on prosecuting sedition cases, why not the AG make a representation to the government to move a motion in Parliament to abolish the Sedition Act altogether? Let’s be done with this ‘memperbodohkan orang Melayu sampai tua’ law once and for ever. This is a really stupid law. It is really meant for the stupid people.