Repeal Sedition Act, DAP urges as Anwar vows to scrap colonial laws
KUALA LUMPUR: The Sedition Act must be repealed, DAP national legal bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh said, backing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's call to abolish colonial-era laws.
The DAP's Ramkarpal Singh has backed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's call to repeal the Sedition Act, describing it as an "archaic, outdated and draconian British legacy" that should be abolished. Ramkarpal noted that the UK abolished its Sedition Act in 2009, and Singapore did so in 2021. He emphasized that the Act's most troubling aspect is its irrelevance to the commission of an offence, as the alleged offender's intention is irrelevant.
This means that someone could be prosecuted for expressing words they genuinely believe to be justified if those words carry seditious tendencies as defined under the Act. Ramkarpal urged the Madani government to seize the opportunity to deliver on Pakatan Harapan's longstanding pledge to repeal the law, and also called for a comprehensive review of all colonial-era and pre-independence laws to ensure they keep pace with current realities.
Brief written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
