KUCHING, Feb 19 ― The planned amendments to the Sedition Act 1948 will not have a specific provision on secession aimed at the people of Sabah or Sarawak, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri said today.

The de-facto law minister said she had raised objections to the initial proposal to include a new clause prohibiting calls for secession of Sabah or Sarawak from the federation as it appeared to focus only on the country’s two largest states.

“I have strongly objected to such provision when the proposed amendments were being discussed in the Cabinet,” she said when met at the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Chinese New Year event here.

“I do not think it is fair to Sarawak and Sabah if they are being singled out… there will be no special provision for the two states,” she added.

Last year when opening the Umno general assembly, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak did an about-turn on his earlier pledge to repeal the colonial era law, announcing that his administration will instead widen the scope of the law.

This includes criminalising calls for secession of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia, and to insert a provision to protect the sanctity of Islam while ensuring that other religions were not insulted.

The proposed provision on the two east Malaysian states, however, raised concern among civil society groups in Sarawak, which argued that it could end up curtailing their right to speak of perceived “injustice and unfairness” in how the state is treated by the central administration.

Nancy today said the amendments will be general in nature as it will apply to all states, and that a provision will be inserted to make it an offence for anyone talking about pulling any state out of Malaysia.

Nancy said the amendments are also to strengthen provisions on barring anyone raising sensitive issues like race and religion or to create ill-feelings among the various races in the country.

“There is not much amendment by the Attorney-General, and I am confident that the Bill will be tabled next month,” she said of the planned amendments, which is expected to be presented to Parliament in its next meeting.

Talk of secession became rife in August last year, with groups across several social media platforms organising themselves into a loose alliance and operating under the banner of pro-secession group Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM).

The movement gained traction, particularly among youths and youngsters in rural Sabah and Sarawak, who called for a review of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 that saw four distinct groups: The Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo — now called Sabah — combine forces to form one nation.

The situation prompted Home Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Zahid Hamidi to issue a stern warning to supporters of the call for Sabah and Sarawak to leave Malaysia, saying last year that those involved in any secessionist movement will face the law.

Earlier this month, nine people were briefly arrested in Tuaran, Sabah for handing out allegedly seditious pamphlets and mounting a signature campaign pushing for Sabah’s rights.

Police confirmed that the case is being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act for printing, publishing, selling (or offering for sale), distribution, reproduction or importation of seditious materials.