KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — An unrelated court ruling that rendered parts of a new assembly law unconstitutional for impinging on Malaysians’ liberties should extend to the sedition charge against PKR MP Chua Tian Chang, his lawyer argued today.
Citing the Court of Appeal acquittal of Selangor deputy Speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad that invalidated a section of the Peaceful Assembly Act for violating the public right to gather, lawyer N. Surendran asserted that the same guiding principle should apply in Chua’s case.
The PKR MP popularly known as Tian Chua was charged under the Sedition Act for remarks made in relation to the Sulu incursion of Lahad Datu, Sabah in February last year.
“The Sedition Act penalises freedom of expression,” Surendran told reporters after the hearing at the Sessions Court here today.
“Because of the decision in Nik Nazmi's case, the Sedition Act is unconstitutional,” he added.
Chua's lawyer, Latheefa Koya, told reporters that “fundamental liberties cannot be criminally sanctioned”.
Surendran said the Sessions Court judge fixed June 26 to hear if the constitutionality of the Sedition Act should be referred to the High Court.
Both freedom of speech and expression, and the right to assemble peacefully, are protected by Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
Opposition lawmakers have accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling government of wielding the archaic 1948 sedition law against political dissidents.
Besides Chua, who is Batu MP, DAP's Seputeh MP Teresa Kok was recently charged with sedition over a satirical video clip, while her party colleague, the late Karpal Singh, had been convicted with sedition over his comments on the 2009 constitutional crisis in Perak.
The Najib administration has yet to repeal the Sedition Act despite the prime minister pledging two years ago to do so.
