Seditious Malaysia: More to come

By Ding Jo-Ann | The Nut Graph

“The [new sedition] guidelines are expected to be ready next week.”

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, explaining that the government will introduce guidelines that will give a detailed definition of sedition in cyberspace. Hishammuddin said he had been involved in drafting the guidelines along with Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz.
Hishammuddin‘s ministry had earlier also set up a special unit to monitor internet postings that could cause “disunity and racial tension”. (Source: Gov’t to unveil guidelines for online sedition next week, Malaysiakini, 20 Nov 2010)

“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.”

Nazri, when asked about the new sedition guidelines by reporters in Parliament. He downplayed the impact of the new sedition guidelines, saying it would not be so easy to accuse someone of sedition as the intention to incite needed to be proven. (Source: Nazri says hard to prove sedition despite new cyberspace rules, The Malaysian Insider, 22 Nov 2010)

“We think the Sedition Act is archaic and should be abolished.”
“The law must go, we should have nothing to do with perpetuating the breaches of the right to free speech on the Internet that will affect everyone and not just Malaysians.”

Bar Council constitutional law committee chairperson Edmund Bon when asked about the government’s move to introduce new sedition guidelines. Bon said he saw no need to “refine” the Sedition Act and described the guidelines as yet another means to curtail dissent. He also said Malaysian society would be regressing if the authorities moved to control the spread of information widely available through electronic applications such as Twitter and Facebook. (Source: Putrajaya fired over new sedition rules covering cyberspace, The Malaysian Insider, 21 Nov 2010)

“In [Nurul Izzah's article], she questioned the ‘special position’ provided under Article 153 of the constitution. She even wanted to debate about this. This is seditious because we are not supposed to question this provision.”

Wirawati Perkasa chief Zaira Jaafar, in her police report against an article by Nurul Izzah Anwar where Nurul invited Perkasa to debate Article 153 of the Federal Constitution which spells out the “special position” of Malay Malaysians and the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak. (Source: Lembah Pantai MP being probed for sedition, Malaysiakini, 22 Sept 2010)

“I can’t talk right now. They are about to arrest me.”

Cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaq, popularly known as Zunar, speaking to Free Malaysia Today just before he was arrested for sedition. More than 60 copies of his book Cartoon-O-Phobia were seized just before it was scheduled to be launched. (Source: Zunar arrested under sedition, new book seized, Free Malaysia Today, 24 Sept 2010)

“How can a book of cartoons be seditious?”
“Zunar’s cartoons may sometimes be very cutting in their portrayal of Malaysian political life, and especially the ruling party, but they cannot in any way be regarded as seditious.”

International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, condemning Zunar’s arrest. (Source: Malaysian cartoonist goes into hiding after sedition arrest, RFI, 28 Sept 2010)

“Sedition charges in Malaysia are often used to suppress press criticism and carry possible three-year jail terms for first-time offenders.”

US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, also condemning Zunar’s arrest and criticising the use of Malaysia’s sedition laws. (Source: Malaysian cartoonist goes into hiding after sedition arrest, RFI, 28 Sept 2010)