more Malaysia sedition charges

It is as if a memo has been circulated among Malaysia's politicians and prosecutors reminding them of the attractiveness of Malaysia's sedition laws. In addition to last week's blogger case, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance has now reported that two other sedition charges have been filed.

The first two cases were lodged on the same day. On 6 May 2008, a well-known online critic, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, and a commentator on his website, Syed Akbar Ali, were charged under the 1948 Sedition Act in the Sessions Court in the state of Selangor and the capital of Kuala Lumpur, respectively. Raja Petra and Syed Akbar are both denying the charge, and while Syed Akbar was released the same day on a bail of RM3,000 (approx. US$939), Raja Petra initially refused to post bail on a matter of principle needed four days for his wife to persuade him to change his mind. Raja Petra, 58, who runs the popular Malaysia Today website (http://www.malaysia-today.net), was charged over his 25 April article, "Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell", which implicated Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife in the murder of a Mongolian national. Syed Akbar, 48 was charged over his 5 June 2007 online response to another article by Raja Petra, "Malaysia’s organised crime syndicate: All roads lead to Putrajaya". His trial will begin on 6 June 2008.

The third case was lodged on May 9, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reportedly ordered a ruling party official to lodge a separate sedition complaint against Karpal Singh, a top politician with a rival party, for questioning the jurisdiction of sultans. In this case, six members of the dominant ruling party, United Malays National Organisation, and a coalition of Malay non-governmental organisations filed two police reports against Karpal for making allegedly seditious remarks against one of the monarchs who historically rule nine out of 14 states of the constitutional monarchy in Malaysia. A 5 May report in the "Star" English daily quoted the chairperson of the Democratic Action Party as saying: "Sultan Azlan Shah did not have any say, as the Ruler of Perak, in the decision made by the state government and, by law, the palace cannot order the state government to reinstate Jamry [Sury as the state's Islamic Department director]." Jamry had been transferred to another department for refusing to cooperate with the new ruling state government in Perak, which was formed by the federal-level opposition coalition, People's Pact. The monarchy, a Malay sultanate, is one of the sensitive topics in multi-ethnic Malaysia, which is dominated by the ethnic Malays, followed by the Chinese, Indians and indigenous groups.

This could be a good opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the charges, particularly if, as I hope, the Ugandan Supreme Court rules that the virtually identical Ugandan sedition law is unconstitutional. That might just give it the push it needs - earlier attempts having been unsuccessful. Watch this space for further developments.