Seputeh Member of Parliament Teresa Kok of the DAP was charged with sedition this morning, over her controversial video for Chinese New Year, entitled ‘Onederful Malaysia’. She pleaded not guilty.
The latest in a growing list of opposition lawmakers being hauled to court for sedition, Kok seemed calm at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, surrounded by colleagues including Selangor speaker Hannah Yeoh and Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Risyakaran, The Malaysian Insider reports.
The presiding judge was Norshidah Awang and Kok was represented by Datuk Param Cumarasamy, Sankara Nair and Gobind Singh Deo. Gobind’s father, the late Karpal Singh, was also charged with sedition over his remarks on the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, and was convicted earlier this year before his passing.
Later today, Selangor deputy speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is expected to be re-charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act for which he had been acquitted just a few days ago. PKR vice-president and Batu MP Tian Chua is also likely to face a sedition charge over a tweet in which he speculated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would not last five months in office if opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim were to be imprisoned for sodomy.
Kok’s video, uploaded on YouTube, allegedly insulted Muslims and government leaders. She clarified that it was meant as a satire of Malaysian political life. It still brought on a wave of recrimination from many quarters, and more than 300 police reports were lodged against it.
In addition, a coalition of Muslim non-governmental organisations in Kuala Lumpur held a protest, slaughtered two chickens and offered a RM1,200 reward to anyone who slapped her as a sign of their anger towards Pakatan Rakyat leaders for allegedly insulting the Malay leadership and Islam.
The charge agains Kok came as something of a surprise, after the Home Ministry in March admitted that the ‘Onederful Malaysia’ video did not insult the Prime Minister.
Here’s the video in its entirety:
