The Sedition Act should be tightened further with the inclusion of the death penalty, says pro-Sedition Act activist Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz.

Khairul Azam said he is currently working on a new NGO dubbed ‘Malaysia Mempertahankan Akta Hasutan’ (Malaysia Defends the Sedition Act), which will be launched tomorrow to garner support for the act to be preserved.

“Many who are people with foul mouths that incite the people have been arrested and imprisoned under the Sedition Act since 1948. It is a good law, why abolish it?

“It should be preserved and strengthened. There should be a clause where those convicted for more than three times would be sentenced to hang until death,” Khairul Azam (right), a lawyer by profession, told Malaysiakini today.

He said the campaign will be launched by former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan.

Khairul Azam  said the movement will collect signatures for its petition campaign through a roadshow and through the Internet, in addition to using these channels to explain the Sedition Act to the people.

“After that, we will hand it over to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the prime minister. Our deadline is the start of the parliamentary session (in October),” he said.

Khairul Azam was also part of the movement against the repeal of the Internal Security Act.

Previously, de facto law minister Nancy Shukri had said the Sedition Act would remain in place for now despite urgings for the draconian law to be repealed immediately.

She said the law is still needed to maintain security, harmony and race relations in the country, since the government still needs time to study and draft the National Harmony Act to replace the Sedition Act.

In the past month, several Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been charged under the Sedition Act, including Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and Padang Serai MP N Surendran.

Others such as law lecturer Azmi Sharom and student activist Safwan Anang were also charged under the Sedition Act, while Malaysiakini journalist Susan Loone is being investigated under the same law.


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