Court rejects bid to review AG, cops’ failure to prosecute preacher

The High Court held that an applicant must furnish evidence beyond mere police reports to challenge the attorney-general’s exercise of his discretion not to prosecute a criminal case.

PETALING JAYA: Five groups have been denied leave to seek a judicial review over the failure of law enforcement agencies to take action against a Muslim preacher for alleged inflammatory remarks against other religions.

The applicants were seeking an order of certiorari to quash the decision of the police and the attorney-general (AG) who, they said, refused to act against Syakir Nasoha for remarks made at a mosque in Bakar Arang in Sungai Petani, Kedah, on Dec 16, 2017.

The alleged remarks were captured in a video that went viral on social media in 2017, and another posted on YouTube three years ago.

During online proceedings today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the applicants had failed to provide strong evidence that the AG had made a decision to take “no further action” (NFA) on the matter in bad faith.

The leave application was filed by Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak president Bobby William, Human Rights Federation president S Shashi Kumar, Sarawak Association for People’s Aspiration president Ng Kim Ho, Ex-Students of Chinese Schools vice-president Chan Tuck Loong and Pertubuhan Malaysia Tamilar Munnetra Kalagam president K Sri Ramesh.

Justice Ahmad Kamal Shahid said the AG’s decision was based on findings that the uploaded portion of Syakir’s speech had been edited from its original content.

He added that since the AG’s power to initiate prosecution was protected under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution, the applicants needed to furnish evidence beyond mere police reports and quoting online excerpts of the speech.

Legal precedents showed that only in rare and exceptional circumstances can the courts review an AG’s decision not to prosecute someone, he said.

“Without more evidence, this court has no power to intervene in the issue of the AG’s discretion,” he said, as reported by Malaysiakini.

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The judge also pointed out that the applicants had wrongly named the inspector-general of police as a defendant in their suit, as the top cop was not involved in making the “NFA” decision.

Filed in September 2022, the application sought an order to compel the authorities to act against the preacher.

The applicants contended that Syakir’s videos had caused serious public harm as they insulted non-Muslim religions and sowed seeds of hatred.

They also claimed that Syakir had committed offences under the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. - FMT