The Sessions Court in George Town, Penang today acquitted DAP state assemblyman RSN Rayer of a charge under the Sedition Act 1948, over his uttering the phrase ‘celaka UMNO’ (‘damn UMNO’) in public.
The Malay Mail Online‘s Opalyn Mok reports that Justice Roslan Hamid in delivering his judgment, noted that the prosecution failed to build a prima facie case against the state assemblyman.
“While the prosecution has proved that he has said those words in a speech, it has failed to prove the seditious element as UMNO is not a racial group but a political group,” the judge read during his ruling.
The court also acquitted Rayer of a secondary charge under Section 504 of the Penal Code, for intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of public peace.
Just as the court ruled that UMNO is not a racial group, but a political one, so too did it find that saying something bad about a political group is not an act to provoke a breach of peace.
Still, we wouldn’t advise anyone to go around shouting ‘celaka anything‘ in public – that could land you a black eye, if you’re not careful.
