After sedition law repeal U-turn, Isma warns against challenging Malay-Muslim rights
(Malay Mail Online) – Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) praised Datuk Seri Najib Razak today for declaring that the Sedition Act 1948 will stay and called for an end for alleged challenges against the position of Malays, Islam and Malay rulers.
Isma also thanked the Prime Minister for listening to the voices of Malay-Muslim NGOs, saying this decision will placate Malays and Bumiputera who “love their country”.
“Those who love the country, especially the Malays and Bumiputera, are against any threats towards national harmony,” Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman said on the group’s website.
“The spirit from the announcement is to defend the national core that becomes the base for the social contract.”
The group also reminded those he called “extremists” to respect the Federal Constitution following Najib’s announcement.
In his policy speech at the start of the 65th Umno General Assembly today, Najib declared that the Sedition Act 1948 will continue to exist after consultation with party leaders, NGOs and grassroots members.
He also announced that the Act will be strengthened with two extra provisions: One prohibiting insults against all religions, and the other prohibiting talks of Sabah and Sarawak seceding from Malaysia.
As part of his administration’s raft of reforms, Najib had in 2012 pledged to do away with the Sedition Act and replace it with laws on national harmony. This was repeated twice more, most recently on September 5.
Up until today’s announcement, Putrajaya has repeatedly insisted it will repeal the Sedition Act and sought to justify an accelerated use of the law against opposition politicians, activists, academics and even a journalist.
Defenders of the Sedition Act, primarily pro-establishment conservatives including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, contend that its removal will open the floodgates of attacks against the Bumiputera, Islam, and the Malay rulers in the absence of another pre-independence law that has since been repealed, the Internal Security Act.
