The United Nations’ Human Rights high commissioner urged the Federal Government in Putrajaya yesterday to pull back its amendments to the Sedition Act 1948, calling them violations of the Federal Constitution that will curtail the Malaysian people’s right to free speech and expression.
High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein also said a reinforced Sedition Act would be a breach of the Malaysian government’s commitment to the UN Charter for Human RIghts.
“The UN Human Rights Office has long urged Malaysia to either repeal the Act or to bring it in line with international human rights standards.
“It is very disappointing that the government is now proposing to make a bad law worse,” he said in a press release sent out by his office yesterday.
Some of the proposed amendments to the Sedition Act were passed into law at 2.30am this morning, among them allowing the courts to restrict the movement of sedition suspects who wished to leave the country, and to delete any online publications that have been deemed seditious. Seditious online publications whose creators are not known may have access to them blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
One proposed amendment that did not pass was for allowing the court to deny bail for any sedition suspect held under police custody.
Zeid reiterated his call for the outright abolishment of the Sedition Act, saying that a law which curtailed the right to free speech did not guarantee a stable and peacful nation.
“Silencing dissent does not nurture social stability, but an open democratic space does. Curtailing the legitimate exercise of human rights in the name of fighting terrorism has been shown, time and again, to backfire and to only lead to festering discontent and a strong sense of injustice.”
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