Ramasamy: PAS MP can be charged with sedition over incendiary questions

Pointing out that there is no absolute free speech in Parliament, DAP leader P Ramasamy said PAS lawmaker Ismail Abd Muttalib could be charged under the Sedition Act for his incendiary questions in the August House.

He also called on the Maran MP to resign, arguing that the latter is not fit to be an elected representative.

On the same note, the Penang deputy chief minister II doubted that the PAS or Perikatan Nasional leadership would take action against Ismail (above).

“Sometimes, I wonder if there is any difference between some of our elected representatives and the former diehard proponents of the apartheid system in South Africa.

“Ismail asked if there is a skin colour criteria to the provision of citizenship, whether Chinese new villages are infested by communists, and if the DAP government in Penang asked for the ban on azan in the state.

“It is strange that after more than six decades of independence, the country being a signatory to various UN conventions on human rights, having opposed the apartheid system in South Africa, and a defender of other emancipation movements, a sitting MP - not surprisingly a PAS member - has the temerity to raise such obnoxious if not downright stupid questions,” he added.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that Ismail had, among others, submitted a parliamentary query asking the government to justify its rationale for “recognising” citizens born after Malaysia’s independence regardless of “skin colour”.

Ramasamy said citizenship is not “rocket science” and the process does not involve skin colour.

“How can the colour of the skin be a criterion for the determination of citizenship in Malaysia? Malaysians are not white but have different shades of skin colour,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ismail had also queried why Chinese new villages were still being maintained and whether communism still exists in those places.

To this, Ramasamy said these were set up during the emergency to stop the communist’s harassment of villagers.

DAP leader P Ramasamy

The DAP leader noted that many of these new villages have transformed into thriving urban areas and to suggest that there is communist influence is unintelligent.

Ramasamy accused Ismail of attempting to cast racial aspersions on the “hardworking and diligent” Chinese community.

Azan misinformation

“If the earlier two questions were not bad enough, his allegation against the Penang DAP government of stopping the azan was seditious and highly inflammatory.

“There is no such thing as absolute free speech in Parliament. In fact, Ismail can be prosecuted for sedition,” Ramasamy said.

Ismail had not named Penang in his parliamentary query about why a “state government” had issued a banning order to all mosques in the state to lower the volume of the call for prayers (azan).

However, it appeared to be a clear reference to DAP-led Penang, which since 2011 has dealt with misinformation about the alleged ban on the azan.

The ban is on the use of loudspeakers for the recital of verses from the Quran before dawn prayers and not on the call to prayers itself - and had received support from PAS at the time. - Mkini