Former Prime Minister and the Malaysian Internet’s loudest voice against current PM Najib Razak, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said today that he believes the Sedition Act 1948 is open to abuse and misinterpretation by the authorities wielding it.
Answering a Twitter question after his talk at Malaysia Social Media 2015 (MSMW2015) today, Mahathir said there was a tendency for the heavily-debated Sedition Act to be abused by the Federal Government.
“If one says ‘this country should have a civil war, and we should overthrow the government’ then that’s seditious. If one says we need to change the government and country’s leader then that’s not seditious,” he explained, as quoted by Astro Awani.
Mahathir also reiterated his opinion that the Internet should be censored, despite his vow not to place restrictions on Malaysian Internet users during his tenure as PM.
He cited Malaysian youths being corrupted by pornographic material as the main reason behind his call for Internet censorship.
“Teenagers get excited easily, when they get excited with the wrong things, bad things happen including sex crime,” he said.
He urged Malaysians not to abuse their access to the Internet as the communication technology was a tool for great advancements.
“The social media gives us all power that we never had before. Everyone of us has obtained incredible power.
“Whatever we put in, must be for the good of society, sticking to the truth. It’s very nice to write nasty things about other people, but if it is not contributing anything to society then do not do it.
“Social media gives a promising future for all of us. If we abuse we will see conflicts, civil war and instability, because we make use of the media to irritate people,” he said.
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