KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — Assoc Prof Azmi Sharom is not the first and only academic who has offered his critique of the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, DAP MP Dr Ong Kian Ming pointed out today.

In a statement here, the Serdang MP listed out quotes from the book “Perak: A State of Crisis” by Loyarburok Publications that were compiled from a number of legal professionals and members of the academia on the controversial imbroglio involving the Perak Sultan.

“The quotes,” Ong noted, “... illustrate the fact that lawyers, judges and former judges, and law professors can and will have very strong opinions on a constitutional issue that is as controversial as the events which transpired in Perak in February 2009.”

“The decisions made to allow the change in government in Perak were heavily criticised as were the basis of the judgements of the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court,” the DAP man said.

He pointed out that Azmi, who was charged yesterday, was being punished for merely suggesting that what transpired in Perak during the fall of the then Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government had been “legally wrong”.

In the allegedly offending words carried by Malay Mail Online, Azmi had said of the Selangor crisis: “You don’t want a repeat of that, where a secret meeting took place.” He was referring to the Perak crisis.

“I think what happened in Perak was legally wrong. The best thing to do is do it as legally and transparently as possible”.

Ong, however, said that many other stronger statements were made in the past by other academics.

For example, he said, referring to the book, scholar Professor Andrew Harding had written:

“But the decision that came down from the Federal Court on the contrary endorses the idea that the fate of the people’s Government can be settled behind the scenes according to who-knows-what secret communications and extraneous considerations which would prevent the voter (or even, in this case, the MB himself) from understanding what had happened and why, and what attitude he or she should take towards the events and the standing of the Government.”

Emeritus Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi too had weighed in, saying: “The Judiciary has not come out of the Perak crisis well. When the case first reached the courts, a Judicial Commissioner gave judgements that deft understanding.”

Constitutional Professor Kevin YL Tan had similarly commented on the court judgements on the Perak crisis, Ong observed.

Former Court of Appeal judge NH Chan had even said that the appointment of Perak’s mentri besar from Umno Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir was “unconstitutional” and therefore made the latter an “imposter”.

Others who made equally harsh comments were lawyers Amer Hamzah Arshad and Art Harun, Ong said.

As such, the DAP lawmaker said the move to charge Azmi with sedition for expressing his academic opinion on the Perak issue in relation to the current crisis in Selangor is “mind-boggling” and a “direct assault on academic freedom”.

He said if academics in Malaysia are targeted for expressing their opinions on controversial issues in the country, it would be akin to muzzling the academia for no reason.

This is a “cowardly act”, Ong continued, before urging Malaysians nationwide to condemn the action by the authorities.

Azmi was charged yesterday under Section 4(1)(b) and 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for uttering and publishing an allegedly seditious claim that the events during the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis was “legally wrong”

If convicted under either the first charge or alternative charge, the 45-year-old will face a maximum fine of RM5,000 or a maximum jail term of three years or both.

The associate professor, whose allegedly seditious comments were published on August 14 in a Malay Mail Online article titled “Take Perak crisis route for speedy end to Selangor impasse, Pakatan told”, was released on a bail of RM5,000.