KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak declared at the Umno general assembly that the Sedition Act will not only be retained but strengthened to protect the sanctity of Islam and other religions.Najib, who is Umno President, said in his policy speech at the annual meeting that the Act would also be enforced against those who called for the secession of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia."Having consulted with party leaders, including my deputy, vice-presidents, NGOs and the grassroots, as the Prime Minister, I have taken the decision to retain the Sedition Act.
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"Do you agree?" he asked the delegates who stood up and gave him a resounding applause.Najib said the Act would be strengthened in at least two areas which the current law did not provide for security. "I have analysed the Act and found that two provisions are not there.
Firstly, the further preservation of the sanctity of Islam as the official religion and also prohibiting other religions from being insulted."Secondly, we will also include that action can be taken against those who insinuate that Sabah and Sarawak should leave Malaysia.
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"Sabah, do you agree?" he said to further applause and cheers from the crowd.The Prime Minister assured Malaysians that the enforcement of the Act would be fair to ensure a more stable, peaceful, and harmonious nation for all.
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Before he made the announcement, a video footage with clips of seditious postings by bloggers, social activist Hishammuddin Rais making a speech and sex blogger Alvin Tan's bak kut ten greetings was shown to the delegates.There was also screening of slides of the bloody May 13 race riots and the communist attacks in Malaya, in an apparent reminder to the country's ruling party of the importance of national unity and the dangers of discord among the Malays. He also said that Bumiputeras will comprise 70 per cent of the population by 2020, and told the Malay party's delegates to imagine how strong the community would be then."Everything that we see today didn't come easily on their own. Actually, the ups and downs of Malaysia's journey were full of episodes and events," Najib said. The stand of the Umno-led government caused 2,752 delegates to stand and cheer 'Setuju!' (agree) in favour of the decision made by the president of the biggest Malay party in the country which has a total of 3.47 million members."This is our aspiration and I believe others in the Barisan Nasional leadership are with us, so enforcement must be fair for us to create a more peaceful, stable and harmonious country," said the Umno president.Suggestions to repeal the Sedition Act 1948 were first made in July 2012, and will be replaced by a new Act to be known as the National Harmony Act. The proposal initially aimed to look for a mechanism that would ensure the best continuity between the need to ensure freedom of speech and the need to tackle the complexity of the plural society in Malaysia. However, the suggestion was met with opposition from various quarters who gave critical views calling for the act to be retained to tackle issues that could cause racial and religious tension.Umno Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, when opening the simultaneous assemblies of the Wanita, Youth and Puteri Umno movements on Tuesday, also said that the Sedition Act should be retained with improvements to preserve national solidarity and harmony, and not as an Act that only protected the interest of the Malays. The stand was also voiced by the Wanita, Youth and Puteri Umno wings, which shared the view for the act to be retained and strengthened with added value.
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Delegates of the three wings also gave the view that the Act formed bastion for the protection of sensitive measures contained in the Federal Constitution.CAPTION: Najib arriving at the venue yesterday.
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