PKR has blasted the prime minister as a “false democrat” for proposing to replace the Sedition Act 1948 with the new National Harmony Act.

PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar in a statement today said the new Bill showed that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration was once again “serving the rakyat lame and outdated ‘transformation’”.

what constitutes sedition 100609 “Although the abolition of the Sedition Act appears positive when looked upon casually.

"However, the track record of Najib’s administration clearly proves that his ‘transformation’ efforts are not only political lies, but that he has no political will to deliver political reforms that are transparent, comprehensive and that fulfil the rakyat’s desires,” said the Lembah Pantai MP.

“The Najib administration’s record of prestige shows clearly that he is a false democrat ...” she added, referring to the label given by a Canadian newspaper last month.

The term was used by award-winning journalist Mark Mackinnon of The Globe and Mail to describe Najib, in a June 8 article about controversial and prominent political leaders.

In the article, Mackinnon categorised autocrats into four groups - false democrats, mad egotists, violent populists and callous capitalists.

Najib was placed in the first category, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

'Ex-members' of the club number former Yugoslavia president Slobodan Milosevic and former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Najib’s proven track record

Nurul Izzah said Najib’s insincerity had been revealed time and again when:

  • Najib’s repeal of the ISA was annulled by the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, which is just as cruel ; 
  • The introduction of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 that limits the right of Malaysians to assemble peacefully, with the arrests of PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin Ali and Badrul Hisham Shaharin during the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28. Critics have since argued that these arrests are politically motivated; and
  • Amendments to the Evidence act (2012) that restrict the right of Malaysians to voice their concerns over social media such as Facebook, blogs and Twitter, using the principle of ‘guilty until proven innocent’.

NONE Instead, Nurul Izzah urged the prime minister to repeal the Sedition Act 1948 wholesale, without a replacment, “to prove that he is a true democrat, not a false one”.

She also called for a bipartisan parliamentary select committee to study comprehensively the National Harmony Bill that Najib had proposed.

“He should give the committee the mandate to discuss social issues and issues of race relations alike,” she said.

Najib announced his intention to repeal the Sedition Act last night, at a dinner held by the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Human rights NGO Suaram's executive director Cynthia Gabriel waved away the proposed Bill as having nice sounding name, but questioned if it would comply with basic human rights standards.

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