KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Open contradiction now towards Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pledge to repeal the Sedition Act shows resistance from within Umno against the prime minister’s reforms, PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar (picture) said today.

According to the PKR vice-president, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s opposition to the repeal of the colonial era law also appears to cast doubt over Najib’s authority since the former had defied the Cabinet’s position on the matter.

“The statement made by the prime minister, what more his promise, must be fulfilled and given the utmost attention.

“Instead, the Umno president is expected to face an internal collision that will lead to a clash of position,” she told reporters in Parliament here.

The Lembah Pantai MP noted that Ahmad Zahid’s statement ran counter to the position of Cabinet members like Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and Minister in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri who have openly called for the law’s removal.

Yesterday, the home minister claimed Putrajaya was merely looking at amending the Sedition Act instead of abolishing the controversial law, in an apparent about-face to the prime minister’s pledge last year.

Ahmad Zahid also denied that he had defied the Cabinet’s decision when he spoke against its repeal yesterday, saying his fellow ministers have yet to reach a decision on the colonial-era law that critics have described as archaic and draconian.

However, Nurul Izzah said the home minister’s remarks contradicted Nancy’s statement last Monday that the government was planning to “repeal” the law pending its replacement with the National Harmony Act.

“On July 11, 2012, the prime minister had expressed the government’s wish to repeal the Sedition Act 1948 and replace it with a new Act named the National Harmony Act,” Nancy said in a written reply to an opposition lawmaker’s query on the matter.

“The decision to replace the Sedition Act 1948 was made because the government wanted to look for a mechanism that could produce a balance between ensuring freedom of speech and the need to manage the complexity of racial plurality in line with the provisions and safeguards given in the Federal Constitution,” she added.

Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam, however, said today that Najib had merely suggested abolishing the Sedition Act when he made his announcement in July last year.

The MIC deputy president insisted that the Cabinet has not decided on repealing the law that human rights activists have denounced as a tool to suppress political dissidents.

Speaking separately, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli today claimed that Ahmad Zahid, who is also an Umno vice-president, was “taking the fall” for Najib’s apparent backtrack on abolishing the controversial law ahead of Umno elections this year.

“Zahid will take the fall so that, eventually, when the Cabinet reverses its decision, Najib will come clean,” Rafizi told reporters in Parliament here today.

“This is Umno’s election year. Most people in Umno hate the fact that the ISA has been repealed. Anyone who’s against the Sedition Act does not look good,” added the Pandan MP, referring to the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Rafizi also asserted that Ahmad Zahid would not have spoken out against the repeal of the Sedition Act without Najib’s endorsement.

“Zahid is a team player,” said Rafizi. “They would have made the decision in backtracking. Zahid takes the heat.”

Najib told British broadcaster BBC in London on July 2 that the Sedition Act was only applied on individuals who were undermining Malaysia’s security, saying: “We will amend the Act but we want to keep Malaysia peaceful and harmonious.”

In October, Nazri, who was then the de facto law minister, said the proposed National Harmony Act will keep the main elements of the Sedition Act, but will have the additional element of allowing for criticism of the government. He added it would happen this year.

But the authorities’ decision to charge PKR’s Tian Chua along with activists Haris Ibrahim, Adam Adli and Safwan Anang last month with the Act has renewed questions over the government’s sincerity to do away with the controversial law.

Opposition lawmakers argue that prosecution under the Sedition Act should not be pursued given Najib’s announcement.

Last week, Nurul Izzah filed a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament in a bid to hasten the abolition of the law.

Ahmad Zahid stressed yesterday that the Sedition Act was necessary to ensure that nobody could question the four issues embedded in the Federal Constitution — on the position of Islam as the official religion, Malay as the national language, special rights of the Bumiputeras, and the position of the Malay Sultans.

Ahmad Zahid has been seen as a strong advocate of preventive detention laws, which the Najib administration has slowly begun to remove as part of its reform measures.

Najib was seen to initiate a raft of legal reforms after taking office in April 2009, introducing a law that allowed peaceful assemblies in public and abolishing the ISA and the Emergency Ordinance (EO), both which allowed for detentions without trial.