Police find no element of sedition in their comments on Federal Court ruling
G. PRAKASH | Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 Malay Mail
PUTRAJAYA: Police will not take any action against DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for criticising the Federal Court’s decision on the legitimacy of the dismissal of the Pakatan Rakyat State government in February last year and the installation of the Barisan
Nasional government.
A police report lodged against the two on Feb 11 by a retired Royal Malay Regiment officer in Kuala Muda, Kedah, had been transferred to Putrajaya for further action.
Putrajaya district police chief Supt Abdul Razak Abd Majid told The Malay Mail the decision was made after going through the report.
“No further action will be taken as we found no element of sedition as alleged in the report,” he said.
He said only one police report was lodged against the two Opposition leaders for their alleged statements reported in a Malay daily and several online news portals.
The 50-year old retiree had stated in his police report that the statements by Lim and Nizar questioning the Federal Court’s ruling were seditious and asked that police take the necessary action against the two.
The statements had allegedly caused an uproar among some NGOs and politicians, who had also called for police to investigate the matter.
Among those who slammed Lim and Nizar were Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, Port Klang Authority chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng and Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.
Even Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had called on the police to investigate the report lodged against Lim and Nizar.
He had said that the court’s decision was final and the Perak menteri besar issue should be put to rest once and for all.
Copies of the police report had been posted in many blogsites. The Federal Court had on Feb 9 declared Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir as the valid menteri besar of Perak.
A five-man bench led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff unanimously ruled that Sultan Azlan Shah had exercised his royal power to appoint Zambry to succeed his Pakatan Rakyat opponent, Nizar, after he was satisfied that the latter had lost the majority vote in the State Legislative Assembly.
Alauddin sat with Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, Datuk Wira Ghazali Mohd Yusof and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong.
#1 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 3:16 pm
Wah!! Not even a cup of kopi-o? Looks like PR is at last getting some respect from UMNO machinery.. Is that good or bad?
#2 by Godfather on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 3:24 pm
Absolute nonsense. If they have a tiny shred of a case, they would have gone ahead and leaked it to the mainstream papers. No penetration but still charged with sodomy. Next time, there will be charges of monetary corruption without any proof of funds, or charges of rape with no penetration.
It is what UMNO says it is.
#3 by Jong on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 3:37 pm
We have jokers running this country – idiots in Defence Ministry(Mindef jet engines carted away out of country and only minons get blamed?), Home Ministry(only UMNO/youths allowed illegal demonstration?) and Religious Dept. Imagine Muslim canned for illicit sex yet no ‘batangs’ found? Either the batangs were of the ‘vvip species’ (need to coverup) or those women are lesbians and what were they doing …err with vibrators? Guess islam disallow vibrators eh? LOL!!!!!
We sure are a nation in distress, …Malaysia-Talibanland?
#4 by Jong on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 3:39 pm
oops, ..”Muslim women canned…”
#5 by a-malaysian on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 3:59 pm
They wanted to take action, see how fast they take to transferred the report to Putrajaya for further action. They wanted to but to force through by twisting and making up the evidence to charge will make them look like idiots in the eyes of the world. They just have too many make up charges against the oppositions at hand and some cannot even stick up in court and are just waiting to see how to depose of them.
Najib, Why I do Not Respect You As A Leader & PM
GE 13 – Change The Federal Government No matter what, we must ensure that racist umno bn do not regain the power like they had for over the past fifty two years.
#6 by dagen on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 4:05 pm
Of course they would like to take action against the two and the decision is not going to be based on law and facts but on political expediency. Who doesnt know!
But why Q-chui? Yeah why suddenly shrink? Come on remove anwar. Remove LKS. Remove Nizar. Remove Nik. Remove karpal – oh yes karpal for all his outburst in court on jib’s and ros’ involvement in anwar’s sodomy charge. Neutralise the opposition. And GE13 will be safe ride home for umno. Come on. Do it man. Remember Jib always boleh.
Jib Jib Boleh.
#7 by Jeffrey on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 4:53 pm
Admittedly laws on sedition are ambiguous and subjective, however, it is only proper and professional that the line is drawn between legitimate criticisms of courts decisions or government’s actions and policies and improper seditious comments.
There is, in the interest of maintenance of law and order, a need for courts to maintain their dignity and authority. So don’t simply hurl unfounded criticisms using intemperate language undermining that dignity.
However confidence in the judiciary does not require a belief that all judicial decisions are wise. Judges are not divine beings. Their judgments can be erroneous. Otherwise how can one higher court overrule another lower court on grounds of error of facts or law and their interpretation? So it is with informed citizentry. In a society with aspirations or what some would regard pretensions of maintaining even a façade of democracy and freedom of speech, why can’t informed citizens discuss or criticize (with decorum) backed by logic and common sense the basis of rationale of the court decision? After all informed citizenry are doing so not to mischievously malign or scandalize any Judge or Judiciary, or out of sheer fancy, or to gain cheap publicity or to incite populace against judiciary but they are doing so to ensure that a person like a judge vested with discretionary powers exercises the same not only in accordance with law and constitution but also facts, logic, common sense, social justice. There’s nothing wrong with the making of fair comment esp when the court decision involves major public issues of the day that justify debate. Error on the part of the Court (whose members are fallible mortals) can be and must be critically argued against if mistake exists or is to be corrected, and not repeated. The essence of arrogance of power is the tendency to make an exception of one own self in power as being infallible and above criticisms, even fair criticisms. If Judgments cannot be questioned and rationally evaluated and criticized how are students of law going to be trained to evaluate the merits or demerits of a legal judgment?
I don’t regard whatever YB LKS said as “seditious”, he being probably more knowledgeable about the dangers of this law than others having had a brush with it several times. If one holds every case of criticizing the govt or government leaders as ‘seditious’ in the sense of bringing the govt into contempt in the eyes of the people, we don’t need an Opposition because it has got no work to do!
#8 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 6:05 pm
Psst. RPK says he hear from police that Musa Hassan is being forced to leave!!!
#9 by dagen on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 6:34 pm
Sedition is more than contempt. Sedition is about bringing the government down unlawfully. So politicians in the opposition camp could be caught by sedition almost by default. Fortunately, the law allows opposition. Because the law allows voting. Therefore the law enables the government of the day to be brought down – in an election, that is. In other words, so long as the opposition plays by this rule, technically sedition will not kick in.
Of course in this country one cannot discount abuse of laws and process by law enforcers. Absence of penetration is after all the strongest evidence against the claim of rape. And no sensible law enforcer (save for those found in jibby land and some other like low-places) would ever dream of prosecuting a suspect in such event.
Can criticism of court judgment be counted as seditious? Hardly. It would be ridiculous to say otherwise. For all appellants would automatically be in breach of the sedition laws. And all academicians too would likewise be trapped should they write differing views in criticism of any court judgment.
Umno has extended its influence into every groove and every nook and corner of the country. Umno’s intolerant ways was initially applied internally to umno members. Power and wealth soon got to their heads and they are now higly intolerant of everyone and anyone who holds differing views. So judges too had to be brought under control lest they misbehave.
Umno’s only enemy is the people – esp those who disagreed with them. And umno spared no effort in making sure all disagreements are banished. ISA, OSA, unlawful police detention, trumped-up charges, mysterious deaths in detention, and bodily disintegration are some of the means adopted to strike fear into opponents’ bones.
It is therefore no wonder that umno views the criticism of a court judgment as seditious. Of course the law enforcer did the right thing in not prosecuting. But I am sure they are driven by some political considerations and not by their desire to do justice or to maintain peace and order.
#10 by chengho on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 6:42 pm
Rule of Law ; that is 1Malaysia
#11 by ReformMalaysia on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 9:31 pm
Jungle
Rule of ^ Law ; that is 1Malaysia – chengho
#12 by chengho on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 10:37 pm
ReformMalaysia
u are too long in the jungle old boy..
#13 by yhsiew on Thursday, 18 February 2010 - 11:28 pm
Don’t make Malaysia into a police state please!!
#14 by DCLXVI on Friday, 19 February 2010 - 3:29 am
chengho: “Rule of Law ; that is 1Malaysia”
Rule of Umno’s Law that is in 1 Umno party ruled Malaysia?
#15 by DCLXVI on Friday, 19 February 2010 - 3:46 am
If police action were to continue against Lim Kit Siang & Nizar Jamaluddin, Pakatan Rakyat may counter in their defence by stating that Umno-BN’s criticism of the court decision to allow the use of the word ‘Allah’ by the Catholic Church in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its Herald publication for the benefit of the Christian Catholic bumiputras in Sabah & Sarawak is also seditious as it restricts the religious freedom of those people with negative consequences…
#16 by DCLXVI on Friday, 19 February 2010 - 3:52 am
Sorry. The last part of my previous post here should read: “…as that criticism displays Umno-BN’s intention to restrict the religious freedom of those people in Sabah & Sarawak, which can in turn have negative consequences…”
#17 by Comrade on Friday, 19 February 2010 - 8:31 am
chengho: “Rule of law; that is 1Malaysia”
Only in theory but not in practice.
#18 by Black Arrow on Saturday, 20 February 2010 - 8:21 am
To charge Kit Siang and Nizar with sedition would be extreme stupidity. The authorities must have considered this very carefully.