PARLIAMENT | The Home Ministry has assured that police will investigate anyone who commits sedition regardless of their stature.
This was in response to a query on whether a statement implying that a state would secede from Malaysia was an offence.
“The Home Ministry through the police is always committed to uphold freedom of expression as long as it abides by laws that have been set.
“However, police will take stern action by carrying out arrests and prosecution towards any individual, regardless of position or stature, who commits sedition or causes public unease based on legal provisions under the Sedition Act, Penal Code, and Communications and Multimedia Act,” the ministry said.
This was said in a written reply on Thursday to a question from Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar).
Azis had asked whether making remarks which appeared to incite a state or region in the country to secede from Malaysia was a criminal offence or violated any law, regardless of who said it.
The ministry, in its reply, did not specify whether this was an offence.
Calls for secession are an offence under the Sedition Act.
Police had questioned Azis last year after he remarked in the Dewan Rakyat that there were growing calls in Sabah for it to secede due to unfair allocations under the national budget.
Parliamentarians have legal immunity to speak freely in the Dewan Rakyat, but this does not apply to cases involving the Sedition Act.
Most recently, Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar last month warned that Johor had a right to secede if any terms under the Malaya Agreement 1948 and 1957 were breached.
He said this while lamenting an apparent disregard for Johor’s sovereignty by Putrajaya in the Pulau Batu Puteh issue.
Sultan Ibrahim also warned that Putrajaya needs to give Johor more funds, lest Johoreans decide to pressure for secession. - Mkini
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