KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has stressed the commitment he and Pakatan Harapan (PH) share to come good on their manifesto promise to repeal the Sedition Act.
He pointed out how the repealing of the law was a promise that was made even before the change of government while declaring his commitment to do so when he becomes prime minister.
Anwar voiced his commitment during an interview with The Newsmakers while in Istanbul, Turkey attending the TRT World Forum.
“This is a commitment that I made, the party made, and its clearly manifested in the manifesto of the Pakatan Harapan prior to the election.
“But I think there are limitations and until we are able to implement some of these reforms that we promised prior to the elections, it is still deemed to be incomplete reform agenda,” he conceded.
Anwar then explained how the administration was facing the issue of the general narrative and public perception towards the repealing of the law, that race, religious and royalty would be subject to abuse.
“We have a problem with the narrative, there are concerns by the Malays whether this would give an open gate for people to just abuse Malay positions, or the language or royalty,” he said.
However, he stood by his opinion that such offences can be handled with existing laws, minus the Sedition Act.
“I don't believe it’s (the narrative) true because there are enough laws against liable or sedition.
“So you don't need to resort to this draconian measures to curb the freedom of people from expressing themselves,” he said.
