KUALA LUMPUR: Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has submitted a Private Members' Bill to abolish the Sedition Act 1948 in a bid to put pressure on the Government to fulfil its pledge to repeal the law.
Nurul Izzah, a PKR vice-president, said it was almost a year since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak promised that the Government would repeal the Act and replace it with the National Harmony Act.
"However, the public is still waiting for Najib's promise to be realised.
"In the mean time, many activists and Pakatan Rakyat leaders including PKR vice-president Tian Chua, PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa and student activist Adam Adli were arrested under the law," she told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
She said she submitted the Sedition (Repeal) Bill 2013 to Dewan Rakyat secretary Datuk Roosme Hamzah on Monday.
Nurul Izzah said she hoped this step will end the abuse of the Act and bring about reforms for a better Malaysia.
"The decision to allow the Private Members' Bill to be debated in the House rests on the Dewan Rakyat Speaker," she said.
An MP can propose a Bill through the Private Members' Bill under common parliamentary practice.
On July 11 last year, Najib announced that the Government would repeal the Act and replace it with the National Harmony Act.
When approached by reporters, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said he would look into Nurul Izzah's proposed Bill.
On the Kuala Besut by-election, Nurul Izzah, who is PKR vice-president, said the Pakatan Rakyat top leadership understood that PAS was interested in contesting for the state seat and were willing to let the party go ahead.
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