KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz played down today Putrajaya’s impending move to define sedition law for cyberspace, saying that despite the rules it would not be easy to prove incitement and pin a conviction.
The minister, who was named by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on Saturday as one of those appointed to draw up the new rules on sedition, told The Malaysian Insider in Parliament this afternoon that any statement deemed as seditious did not necessarily prove a person’s intention.
As such, the de facto law minister urged the public to keep an open mind when reading online material, and predicted that eventually, even news from alternative media would be viewed critically.
“What is really important is the public’s perception of things. One day people will not trust the media, even the alternative, online media.
“You have to think twice before you swallow everything that you read, be more critical,” he said.
The outspoken minister cited himself as an example of a person who would not be easily angered by accusations or statements made against him as he was confident that if the statements were untrue, there was no need to raise ire. “For me, I do not care about things. I do not care what people say about me. But then again, that is me... what about the others?
“To me, it is very simple... the test is this — if something is said about you and you did not do it, then why get worried? You only get worried when it is true and you tell yourself, oh... how did they know about me?” he reasoned.
He pointed out that any seditious-sounding statement may not necessarily be seditious in nature as it was mandatory to take into consideration the context of the situation which led the statement to be uttered.
“To me, what human rights means is that you can exercise your rights and there is no limit, except when you touch on another person’s right... that is the limit.
“Is it fair to accuse a person’s mother of being a prostitute? Is it my right to say that? Imagine if I said it and I did not know you?
“But if I knew you as a person and we are friends and joking around, we can say things in jest. So this means that the utterance of the word may not be seditious or made with ill-intention,” he said.
He added that it was important to obtain feedback from the “reasonable man on the street” to gauge a person’s definition of what was considered “seditious”.
“If you went up to a reasonable man on the street and made a seditious-sounding statement, how would he react? What would he think of it?” he said.
Nazri explained that this proved that it would not be easy to pin sedition on a person if the intention to incite could not be proven.
However, the Padang Rengas MP stressed that it was important to have laws to prevent those with actual intention to incite hatred from making seditious statements.
“The law is good because if a person has a specific intention to target particular groups and keep making statements to incite hatred, then the law is there,” he said.
Nazri was however silent on the status of the sedition law for cyberspace, noting that the matter was under Hishammuddin’s purview as the home minister.
“Perhaps once it is drafted it will come to me,” he said.
In his statement on Saturday, Hishammuddin revealed that Nazri, along with Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim and the Attorney General’s Office, had been roped in to draw up the new rules on sedition.
He added that the rules would be revealed by this week but did not add details on when they would come into enforcement.
The move has received much flak from opposition lawmakers and online users who depend on the Internet and social media applications like Twitter and Facebook to get their messages to the masses.
Several people told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that they feared the archaic law was being strengthened to clamp down on freedom of speech and cut out criticism against government policies.
Additionally, under the 10-point Bill of Guarantees of the Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor launched in 1996, the government had promised not to enforce any censorship.
An opposition lawmaker had also predicted that the new guidelines were being fashioned to coincide with the impending general election and were a part of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s strategy to silence dissenting political views ahead of the election.
The Malaysian Insider reported today that BN had also told its media to play up “feel-good” and “positive” reports and to find flaws with its political foes in the next few months in its build-up towards the polls.
Umno owns and controls both the country’s largest media group — Media Prima Berhad (MPB) which owns English and Bahasa Malaysia newspapers, television and radio stations, and the Utusan Group which publishes both Utusan Malaysia and the Kosmo tabloid. The MCA now directly owns The Star and several radio stations and magazines while the MIC owns the Tamil Nesan.
Key editorial executives had informed The Malaysian Insider that they expect the general election to be held within the first quarter of 2011 with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confident of regaining the customary two-thirds parliamentary majority after being denied by Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the informal three-party pact that won four more states and 82 federal seats in Election 2008.
The minister, who was named by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on Saturday as one of those appointed to draw up the new rules on sedition, told The Malaysian Insider in Parliament this afternoon that any statement deemed as seditious did not necessarily prove a person’s intention.
As such, the de facto law minister urged the public to keep an open mind when reading online material, and predicted that eventually, even news from alternative media would be viewed critically.
“What is really important is the public’s perception of things. One day people will not trust the media, even the alternative, online media.
“You have to think twice before you swallow everything that you read, be more critical,” he said.
Nazri says one day the people will not trust the media, even the alternative media. — File pic
“To me, it is very simple... the test is this — if something is said about you and you did not do it, then why get worried? You only get worried when it is true and you tell yourself, oh... how did they know about me?” he reasoned.
He pointed out that any seditious-sounding statement may not necessarily be seditious in nature as it was mandatory to take into consideration the context of the situation which led the statement to be uttered.
“To me, what human rights means is that you can exercise your rights and there is no limit, except when you touch on another person’s right... that is the limit.
“Is it fair to accuse a person’s mother of being a prostitute? Is it my right to say that? Imagine if I said it and I did not know you?
“But if I knew you as a person and we are friends and joking around, we can say things in jest. So this means that the utterance of the word may not be seditious or made with ill-intention,” he said.
He added that it was important to obtain feedback from the “reasonable man on the street” to gauge a person’s definition of what was considered “seditious”.
“If you went up to a reasonable man on the street and made a seditious-sounding statement, how would he react? What would he think of it?” he said.
Nazri explained that this proved that it would not be easy to pin sedition on a person if the intention to incite could not be proven.
However, the Padang Rengas MP stressed that it was important to have laws to prevent those with actual intention to incite hatred from making seditious statements.
“The law is good because if a person has a specific intention to target particular groups and keep making statements to incite hatred, then the law is there,” he said.
Nazri was however silent on the status of the sedition law for cyberspace, noting that the matter was under Hishammuddin’s purview as the home minister.
“Perhaps once it is drafted it will come to me,” he said.
In his statement on Saturday, Hishammuddin revealed that Nazri, along with Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim and the Attorney General’s Office, had been roped in to draw up the new rules on sedition.
He added that the rules would be revealed by this week but did not add details on when they would come into enforcement.
The move has received much flak from opposition lawmakers and online users who depend on the Internet and social media applications like Twitter and Facebook to get their messages to the masses.
Several people told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that they feared the archaic law was being strengthened to clamp down on freedom of speech and cut out criticism against government policies.
Additionally, under the 10-point Bill of Guarantees of the Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor launched in 1996, the government had promised not to enforce any censorship.
An opposition lawmaker had also predicted that the new guidelines were being fashioned to coincide with the impending general election and were a part of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s strategy to silence dissenting political views ahead of the election.
The Malaysian Insider reported today that BN had also told its media to play up “feel-good” and “positive” reports and to find flaws with its political foes in the next few months in its build-up towards the polls.
Umno owns and controls both the country’s largest media group — Media Prima Berhad (MPB) which owns English and Bahasa Malaysia newspapers, television and radio stations, and the Utusan Group which publishes both Utusan Malaysia and the Kosmo tabloid. The MCA now directly owns The Star and several radio stations and magazines while the MIC owns the Tamil Nesan.
Key editorial executives had informed The Malaysian Insider that they expect the general election to be held within the first quarter of 2011 with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confident of regaining the customary two-thirds parliamentary majority after being denied by Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the informal three-party pact that won four more states and 82 federal seats in Election 2008.
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