JULY 4 — Several local news sites have been misreporting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement to the BBC regarding his pledge to repeal the draconian Sedition Act.

Historically the product of the era of absolutist monarchy in England, the Sedition Act criminalises criticism of the government, making it one of the most undemocratic laws in existence today.

The source of the confusion appears to stem from the BBC itself which has interpreted Najib’s intention to “amend the Act” as honouring his commitment last year to abolish it.

Amendment is not abolition. Amending the Sedition Act, which has been liberally used to suppress dissent since the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA), means to tweak it rather than do away with it entirely. Abolition of the Act would involve its repeal as a law, striking it from Malaysia’s statutes.

By saying he will now amend the Sedition Act instead of abolishing it Najib has backtracked on his earlier pledge to the rakyat. This echoes his recent statement in Parliament that he would “kaji semula” or reassess the Act. Umno cybertroopers have already begun to defend the Sedition Act.

The pledge to abolish the Sedition Act was made when Najib was attempting to boost his credentials as a liberal reformer. He had sacrificed the ISA, so treasured as an instrument of Barisan Nasional’s authoritarian methods. However, as with other initiatives pushed by Najib the ISA’s abolition was a bait-and-switch. It was replaced with the Securities Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA).

SOSMA replaced the ISA’s indefinite detention without trial with a threat of indefinite judicial detention.

Last year, Najib proposed the Orwellian-sounding National Harmony Act to replace the Sedition Act. No details were released, but it was likely another whitewashing exercise. The emphasis here was designed to evoke those aspects of the Sedition Act that criminalises attempts to “promote feelings of ill will and hostility between different races and classes of the population of Malaysia”.

Given its track record of invoking ethnic tsunamis and hate speech an Umno-led government has the least moral standing to uphold such a law.

Sufficient provisions exist within our Penal Code to criminalise defamation or incitement, the Sedition Act is not needed to protect multi-ethnic Malaysia. Freer media, debate and criticism of such hate speech is a better antidote than restrictive laws.

But Najib and Umno’s concern is not to defend harmony in Malaysia, it is to defend their grip on power. Sedition is a broad charge that has proven too attractive in policing dissent over electoral fraud and national security blunders. Since he announced its impending repeal last year, Najib has liberally used the Sedition Act at least 11 times.

The new about-turn in policy indicates that the Sedition Act is here to stay. It will become the signature instrument of repression for the Najib administration in the way the ISA was the black mark of the Mahathir era. Prepare yourselves for more transformation without change.

* Yin Shao Loong is research director of Institut Rakyat.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.