Stop hauling up critical voices, says PH

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Hannah Yeoh are among those being investigated by police.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan has slammed the recent questioning of opposition MPs, which they described as a form of intimidation against political rivals.

In a joint statement, PH said actions against the MPs and the ensuing media reports put them in a negative light.

The opposition coalition said the Perikatan Nasional government should be more mature in dealing with political differences. “Such intimidation tactics will only give the world a bad impression of Malaysia’s political scene and its democracy,” PH leaders said.

The statement was jointly issued by PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution, DAP organising secretary Loke Siew Fook and Amanah communications director Khalid Samad.

The council called for an end to the investigations.

Among those facing police investigation for alleged sedition are Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, formerly of PPBM, and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh of DAP.

Syed Saddiq is being investigated for sharing allegedly “offensive and menacing content” about an interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hassan.

He had spoken of his disappointment with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for betraying the party’s founding principles by working with “kleptocrats”. He said Muhyiddin had “opened the (government’s) door” to kleptocrats.

Yeoh is also being investigated for sedition, over a post on child marriage attributed to her Facebook account. Yeoh has since said the posting, which contains disparaging remarks about Muslims, is fake.

Yeoh, who was deputy minister for women, family and community development in the PH government, is also being investigated over another online comment on the fate of a proposed national roadmap to combat child marriage.

The Inspector-General of Police, Abdul Hamid Bador, has since said the police were not under any pressure to take action against these MPs.

Hamid said several politicians were supposed to have been called up to be interviewed, but the actions were delayed because of measures to curb Covid-19 since March 18. - FMT