(Petaling Jaya,
Thursday):
I welcome the statement by Suaram yesterday condemning the
police arrest of six DAP leaders in Port Dickson last Sunday under Section
4(i)(c)
of the Sedition Act 1948 for
distributing the “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957” leaflet at the Port
Dickson wet market as “a serious human rights violation and is a threat to
civil society thriving to address public concern in a peaceful way”.
Suaram said it “seeks answers to the bizarre and
unprofessional attitude of the Police” as the police seem to be making arbitrary arrests
which itself is a violation of human rights and the rule of law.
Suaram described the police arrests and the threat by the
Seremban district police chief, Assistant Commissioner Abdul Khalid Abu
Hassan that DAP leaders and supporters who distribute the
"No to 929" leaflets
to the public risk being charged under the Sedition Act 1948 as “a gross
violation of Article 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
which guarantees people freedom of expression and information”.
The Seremban District Police Chief, Abdul Khalid Abu Hassan
is taking the law into his own hands to criminalise legitimate political
and constitutional activities in the country when he warned that DAP leaders and
supporters who distribute the "No to 929" leaflets would be arrested
and charged under the Sedition Act 1948.
Abdul Khalid's threat has made a mockery of
the recent efforts by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah
Badawi in organizing the Kuala Lumpur International Conference on Islam (Kalif
2002) to show the world that the Malaysian government's concept of Islam is
compatible with democracy and human rights.
The "No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957" campaign is a patriotic and nationalistic campaign to defend and uphold the 1957 Merdeka Constitution, the "social contract" and 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic state - whether ala-UMNO or ala-PAS.
If the "No to 929" campaign is seditious, then
the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement are seditious documents.
Furthermore, the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak
and Tun Hussein Onn would have committed sedition offences as well as they
had at one time or another proclaimed that Malaysia is a secular nation
with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state.
In fact, in February 1983, on the occasion of his 80th
birthday, Tunku issued the clear public message that plural Malaysia should
not be turned into an Islamic State. The third Prime Minister, Tun
Hussein On, who celebrated his 61st birthday within the same week, also
publicly supported Tunku's call that Malaysia should not be turned into an
Islamic state.
The Tunku and Tun Hussein's public statements in February
1983 are all in the historical archives
which could not be denied by anyone. Is Abdul Khalid saying that
Tunku and Hussein had committed the offence of sedition when they called on
Malaysians not to turn Malaysia into an Islamic State?
In view of Abdul Khalid’s baseless and misguided threat, I will be in Seremban on Sunday (July 28) morning together with other DAP leaders to take the non-seditious and fully constitutional "No to 929" campaign to the people of Seremban - and I call on Abdul Khalid to fully respect the Constitution, the Rukunegara and the rule of law by giving the fullest co-operation to the DAP in the discharge of our legitimate political activities.
The Sunday rendezvous in Seremban for the ‘No to 929”
campaign will be a test case as to whether certain police officers can be
allowed to take the law into their own hands to criminalise legitimate
constitutional political activities.
DAP is fully committed to the rule of law and eschews all
forms of illegal and unconstitutional practices, but we will not condone the
unconstitutional acts of the police in criminalizing legitimate political
activities enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution.
Seventy-two years ago, on 6th April
1930, Mahatma Gandhi picked up a handful of saline mud that had to be
cleaned during the day to extract the small quantity of salt and launched the
mass struggle against salt laws – shaking the entire British colonial empire
to its very foundations.
On Sunday, July 28, 2002, I will distribute the “No to 929” pamphlet in Seremban to the public to defend and uphold the 1957 Merdeka Constitution, the “social contract” and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Islam is the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic State, and to defend and uphold the fundamental right of Malaysians to carry out legitimate political activities free from police harassment.
(25/7/2002)