Proposed law penalising those play up 3R issues not a long-term solution, says former Bar president

PETALING JAYA: The proposed law to impose civil penalties on those who play up 3R (race, religion and royalty) sentiments may not be a lasting solution, says former Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong.

He said that he agreed that efforts should be made to address those who were playing up racial and religious tension and believed that the proposed act was aimed to address these issues and concerns.

"However, I do not think that enacting further laws to penalise expressions of speech and thought would be an enduring solution.

"It should be recalled that there was previously a good proposal to repeal the Sedition Act, and replace it with, amongst others, a national unity and racial harmony act which would only criminalise and penalise acts of, threats of and incitement to violence by the playing up of sentiments of race, religion and the royalty.

"In the mid to long term, I am of the view that it would be education, mediation and reconciliation mechanisms that would have the best chance of addressing the matter, by seeking to resolve issues or divisions as these arise, by inculcating values and setting mindsets through understanding to avoid such playing up of sentiments regarding race, religion and the royalty," he said when contacted Thursday (July 13).

Earlier Thursday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said revealed that the new act was similar to Singapore’s Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act, but in the local context.

At present, Azalina said any offence involving the 3R issue was investigated under the Sedition Act 1948, where the act was more geared towards elements of criminal offences, causing prosecution to take a long time due to legal procedures.

She said the proposed act, which may be called the “State and Nation Act”, had been presented to Cabinet on Wednesday (July 12) and received a positive response.

Constitutional expert Prof Datuk Dr Wan Ahmad Fauzi Wan Husain welcomed Azalina's suggestion, saying there is a need to regulate issues pertaining to the 3Rs.

"Perhaps, we can also look into the setting up of a separate National Sovereign Commission to protect fundamental liberties and at the same time deal with the 3R issues," he proposed.

The commission, he added, would protect matters pertaining to the sovereignty of the country, the issues pertaining to the position of Islam, position of the Malay Rulers and the special position of the Malays.