Pakatan had chance to repeal Sedition Act but failed, says ex-Bar Council president

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan had the chance to repeal the Sedition Act but they failed to do so, says Ragunath Kesavan.

The former Malaysian Bar Council president said the push to repeal the law has been going on for the last 10 years.

"Whether its (Pakatan) Harapan, Perikatan, they are still the same. They had opportunity to repeal, but did not.

"Even the (former) Attorney General did not do anything, the ministers did not do anything," he told reporters outside Bukit Aman on Tuesday (March 3).

As a result, freedom of expression is being questioned again, he added.

"Now we pay the same price, again. Regardless of the change of government, the issue is still the same...freedom of expression.

"Back to square one," he said.

Earlier, Ragunath represented activist-lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, who was being questioned by the Bukit Aman CID Special Investigation Unit due to her tweet on Saturday's (Feb 29) rally following the political crisis gripping the nation.

Fadiah is being investigated in connection with her Tweet, in which she urged the people to join the "Turun ke Jalan, Demokrasi Mati (Go to the Streets, Democracy is Dead) rally on Saturday (Feb 29).

"She is being investigated under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948, as well as Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act for wrongful use of network services and facilities," Ragunath said.

Pakatan had promised in its election manifesto to abolish the Sedition Act if it was elected into power.

In July last year, former Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now the Prime Minister, said that the government was "reviewing" the law, but had not decided what to do with it.