KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Civil group Lawyers for Liberty have condemned the use of the Sedition Act 1948 for the arrest of three people critical of the monarchy as tantamount to “mob rule”.
Its executive director Latheefa Koya said the use of the colonial-era law should not have happened under the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government as it was among the legislations the coalition promised to repeal if it won federal power.
“The authorities must be more discerning when reacting to viral messages on social media especially if the alleged ‘insulting’ post has been exaggerated — to do so would tantamount to mob rule.
“The Sedition Act is a draconian piece of legislation that was heavily opposed by the then Pakatan Harapan coalition when they were in the opposition.
“It is therefore shocking that in Malaysia Baharu, this law is still being used by the police to crackdown on mere social media comments that are not criminal in nature,” she wrote in a statement.
Police arrested two men and one woman two days ago and are investigating all three under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act for posting comments on social media deemed to have insulted Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan who stepped down as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong last Sunday.
Latheefa described the arrests as resembling those under the previous ruling Barisan Nasional, which she said showed its “intolerance” towards freedom of speech.
She urged the authorities to stop such arrests and focus on curbing real crime cases.
Police yesterday announced the arrests of Eric Liew Chee Ling, 46, using the Facebook account name Eric Liew; 27-year-old Azham Akhtar Abdullah using the @azhamakhtar Twitter handle; and Nur Alia Astaman, 26, who made postings through her @aliaastaman Twitter handle.
The trio are part of a growing list of people who have been investigated by the police over postings of a similar nature or who have been penalised by their employers.
Liew was an employee of tech firm Cisco Asean while Nur Alia has been suspended by her employer Tenaga Nasional Berhad.
A doctor with medical chain Mediviron Group of Clinics also resigned yesterday following pressure over his alleged mocking of royalty.
