See you in court, Perkasa says, if Batu Kawan MP not probed for sedition

(MMO) – Malay rights group Perkasa will lodge a police report against Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto for sedition, and will take the matter to court if no action is taken.

Its president Datuk Paduka Ibrahim Ali said the NGO will make the report by Monday, on the grounds that Kasthuri’s push for the government to recognise the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief would allow Muslims in Malaysia to leave the faith.

“We will bring it to court if nothing is done to investigate her under the Sedition Act, as we want to see if the decision to place a moratorium on the Act is in line with the Federal Constitution,” he said during Perkasa’s forum on the Act’s repeal.

On Monday, Ismaweb, the online portal for conservative Muslim group Isma, ran a story titled “DAP MP pushes for freedom for apostasy, deviant teachings”, which also alleged that in Parliament, Kasthuri had referred to recommendations by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to cease detaining followers of Shi’ite or Ahmadiyyah teachings, which Malaysian Islamic authorities have declared to be deviant.

On Thursday, it was reported that Kasthuri planned to lodge a police report against Isma and is mulling legal action against the group if it does not apologise within 48 hours for the allegedly defamatory article.

She strongly denied Isma’s claims, adding that she has never spoken against Islam, and accused Isma of propagating hatred.

Earlier today, Ismaweb released a statement, saying it refused to retract the article and that it would stand by its contents, claiming that it had found the references and facts contained within to be accurate.

On October 11, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo announced that the Cabinet agreed to a moratorium on the colonial-era Act, pending its eventual repeal.