Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse. They are trying to amend the Sedition Act in Parliament.
Govt is submitting an amendment to the Sedition Act which allows denial of bail once charged. Far more draconian! pic.twitter.com/zKyyXkWTyI
— Nurul Izzah (@n_izzah) April 7, 2015
0226 (7 Apri): The Pota bill is passed. Detention without trial is back. It is a hammer blow to democracy in Malaysia. Janji dicapati.
0125:
They are still grinding on.
Anwar Ibrahim was allowed to pay his respects to his late father Datuk Ibrahim Abd Rahman at the latters’ home in Kajang. Anwar arrived in a prison car, a black Toyota Fortuner, just after Mahathir had left the house.
Residents of Tanjung Bunga packed a press conference this morning to protest against a Boon Siew Group project that will see two 50-storey buildings, one 49-storey building and one 34-storey building sprouting in the area.
This is @zunarkartunis !Determined even as he is charged under #sedition act. #Malaysia (via @malaysiakini ) pic.twitter.com/1q1aOsTOu1
— Gayathry V (@gayathry) April 3, 2015
He had to post bail this morning on nine counts of sedition. Each count RM2,500. Total RM22,500. And after that, this happened:
Even as Najib faces mounting pressure from Mahathir and Razaleigh, Malaysia’s leading political cartoonist Zunar reports: “My lawyer just informed that the government will charge me with NINE charges under The Sedition Act tomorrow, with the bail is about RM50,000. Otherwise I will be in jail.”
The good folks at Kajian Politik untuk Perubahan Malaysia have gone through the Prevention of Terrorism Act bill and are struck by how closely Pota resembles the ISA.
Here are their observations:
KPRU mendapati, POTA memaparkan beberapa ciri-ciri yang dikongsi bersama sebelum Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dmansuhkan seperti berikut:
Update: Lionel Morais, Amin Shah Iskandar and Zulkifli Sulong were released this evening after the police failed to secure remand. Release Kay Tat and Jahabar as well!
The arrests of The Edge CEO Ho Kay Tat and TMI chief editor Jahabar Sadiq this morning, along with three other TMI editors – Lionel Morais, Amin Shah Iskandar and Zulkifli Sulong – is deeply disturbing.
This is not a step formard, but a step backwards to the dark days post-Ops Lalang, when The Star and a couple of other papers were effective muzzled.
@TerenceFnandez @hwabeng I thought I will never see the day when honest journalism becomes a victim. Not time to quit but stay n fight!
— Citizen Nades (@CitizenNades) March 31, 2015
Update (3.40pm): The Prevention of Terrorism bill was tabled today in Parliament. The bill, which allows for detention without trial similar to the ISA, will go for a second reading this week. “They’re going to steamroll the bill through,” says one MP in Parliament.
Preventive detention could very well be making a return soon with the tabling of the Prevention of Terrorism bill and a string of other related bills in Parliament tomorrow. We got rid of the ISA, which allowed detention without trial, not too long ago. Now this…
List of POTA related bills for 1st reading tomorrow… Journalists take note… pic.twitter.com/j3f1RzPqRd
— Ong Kian Ming (@imokman) March 29, 2015
Update: After the rally, PKR organising secretary Faris Musa was arrested for sedition and taken to Dang Wangi. Bersih tweeted that two others were also arrested, but I’m unable to verify this at this stage.