Surendran: Khalid should not interere in the political process
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: The Inspector-General of Police was criticised today for interfering in the political debate about the Sedition Act by posting remarks on Twitter justifying the need to retain the act.
The MP for Padang Serai, N Surendran of PKR, said Khalid’s job as IGP confined him to law enforcement and not to policy or political matters.
His remarks were “a desperate attempt to justify continued usage of the draconian and archaic” law. Khalid had said the Paris attacks killing 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo showed the need for the Sedition Act in order to protect the country from terrorist attacks.
He said the current debate about whether to retain the act or abolish it, between Barisan Nasional and opposition politicians as well as civil society, was a political matter.
“It is even more disturbing that the IGP has chosen to interfere in the ongoing dispute,” Surendran said. “The IGP, as a top civil servant, has no business to publicly intervene in policy or political matters.”
Surendran said the Sedition Act criminalised legitimate criticism of the government and the authorities, and asked why police were investigating assembly member Haniza Talha of PKR for questioning the federal budget allocation for Permata (the movement championed by Rosmah Mansor).
KUALA LUMPUR: The Inspector-General of Police was criticised today for interfering in the political debate about the Sedition Act by posting remarks on Twitter justifying the need to retain the act.
The MP for Padang Serai, N Surendran of PKR, said Khalid’s job as IGP confined him to law enforcement and not to policy or political matters.
His remarks were “a desperate attempt to justify continued usage of the draconian and archaic” law. Khalid had said the Paris attacks killing 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo showed the need for the Sedition Act in order to protect the country from terrorist attacks.
He said the current debate about whether to retain the act or abolish it, between Barisan Nasional and opposition politicians as well as civil society, was a political matter.
“It is even more disturbing that the IGP has chosen to interfere in the ongoing dispute,” Surendran said. “The IGP, as a top civil servant, has no business to publicly intervene in policy or political matters.”
Surendran said the Sedition Act criminalised legitimate criticism of the government and the authorities, and asked why police were investigating assembly member Haniza Talha of PKR for questioning the federal budget allocation for Permata (the movement championed by Rosmah Mansor).
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