During those long winter years under the rule of the former prime minister, reading the morning papers could often be a traumatic experience. You glanced through the headlines and a surge of silent seething rage coursed through your veins.

With a weakened federal government elected into place, one would have thought that the morning news would be far more palatable. But alas, it is not to be!

When I read that Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin and Syed Akbar Ali have been charged under the Sedition Act, the same old rage returned. It is a crude reminder that the kind of open, democratic, and enlightened Malaysian society I have yearned for Malaysia is still far far away.

raja petra released from prison 090508 04 Raja Petra is the webmaster of Malaysia Today, the extremely popular no-holds barred website that I visited daily at one time. He used to invite debate on such "sensitive" topics as whether Sarawak and Sabah made a mistake in becoming a part of Malaysia in 1963, and whether the royal houses are still relevant in our country.

Much of the view expressed by his readers on his website was pure garbage. There was little attempt to be engaged in meaningful discussion. Sometimes, Raja Petra was so obviously frustrated that he just closed down the debate on any single topic.

It is not the case that Malaysians are not ready to discuss these "sensitive" subjects with decorum and intelligence. As Raja Petra later revealed, the Putri Umno people actually hired paid staff to saturate his website with venomous garbage, probably to diminish the credibility of his blog, and to get him into trouble.

I am certain that in a democratic, open, and enlightened Malaysian society, such hot topics can be discussed publicly without causing people rioting on the streets. But in Malaysia, the spectre of Malaysians with extremely religious and ethnic sensitivities causing riots on the street has always been a dominant myth in the Umno narrative.

Respect for Raja Petra

I was worried for Raja Petra then, and I sent him an e-mail expressing my concern for his personal liberty. He shot back a reply saying he was not going to give up his battle with certain "Malays"!

So now, he is being persecuted under the stupid Sedition Act. .

I have not met Raja Petra personally. Our contact was limited to a few exchanges of e-mails and a telephone conversation. But he so pours his heart out on his website that you cannot but feel as if you know him personally. He is combative, but courteous, courageous certainly, and candid without losing his common sense. He is one of the few Malaysians for whom I have endless respect and admiration.

He could have easily paid the RM5000 bail money. His failure to do so, his preference to go to jail, and his hunger strike, are all symbolic acts of severe protest against the injustices of his persecution. Raja Petra may look like a maverick lone-ranger, but he has the mind of a brilliant military strategist.

In 2000, when he was detained under the ISA, he too went on a hunger strike for five days. He was released. It would not have looked good to the outside world if a member of the Selangor royal family had died from hunger strike in jail under the ISA.

To me, Raja Petra is much more than a Malay or a member of the royal household. I may even disagree with him on some of his very strong views. But to me, he is a fellow Malaysian who shares my ideal of a better Malaysia in which there would be freedom of speech, good governance, democracy, transparency, and fairness for all.

The Sedition Act, along with the ISA, OSA, and the numerous laws curtailing the fundamental liberties of Malaysians, is precisely the sort of archaic legislation designed to shut up Malaysians in the name of social harmony and political stability. Like all anti-democratic and anti-people laws, the Sedition Act ought to be repealed.

In the case of Raja Petra Kamarudin, his putative offence is an article that implicates certain top politician behind a sensational murder case. This piece of titbit has been circulating on the internet for a long time.

We Malaysians know the limitation of press freedom on the mainstream media, which does not tell the truth often. Naturally, we are all interested in rumours, which sometimes have more credibility than the press reports. One such rumour that has been going around for years is that a certain top judge has gone overseas on holiday with a lawyer who paid for all his expenses. The rumour has turned out to be true, if witnesses at the recent Royal Commission hearing are to be believed.

Discretionary powers

We surf the internet to look for rumours like that because we are hungry for information that the mainstream media are reluctant to give us. But we are not going to start rioting and causing damage to properties or losses of lives afterwards.

And now, the remnants of fundamentalist Malay nationalism are going to crucify Karpal Singh with the Sedition Act also just because he has questioned the power of the Perak Sultan on this business of reinstating a state government employee.

karpal singh pc on perak sultan 090508 01 I too had my doubt about the constitutional legitimacy of the Sultan in ordering the Perak MB to withdraw the decision of the state government to fire a troublesome state government officer in charge of Islamic affairs.

I would like to give the Sultan the benefit of my doubt because he was such a great judge when he was sitting on the bench during those long years of his very distinguished service to the nation. I am also vaguely aware that as the sultan of Perak, he is the head of the Islamic religion in his state, and he must have wide powers over anything to do with religious affairs.

Nevertheless, in our unique system of constitutional monarchy, the matter of the limits to the discretionary powers of all the rulers strikes at the very core of our democratic way of life. How far should the Sultan act on the advice of the state government is a subject on which I am very sure the Perak Sultan would have very learned views.

That is why I was glad when Karpal Singh raised his objection. In a mature democracy, this objection would have initiated a public discussion involving lawyers, civil society groups, and laymen like you and me. At the end of the day, everybody would have learned much more about what a constitutional monarchy is like than before. It will be an exercise in political education for all citizens. It would be better still if the matter somehow goes to court. That would really test the competence and the independence of the judiciary.

Indeed, Karpal was merely bringing up a point of law, and he was discharging his duty as a lawyer and a member of Parliament. His objection was not directed at the person of the Sultan of Perak. From what little I know of Karpal personally, I suspect he must have the same respect for the Sultan of Perak personally as I have.

(The best person to engage Karpal in this debate is probably Sultan Azlan Shah in view of his vast knowledge of the law. Unfortunately, as a Sultan, he must be above politics, and so cannot be arguing with an MP in public about his personal decision.)

Unfortunately, for Umno politicians at the helm of government, nothing is further from their mind than promoting the healthy values of a mature democracy. They want to score points and fix their opponents. So these iconic figures of fundamentalist ultra-conservative Malay nationalism choose to interpret Karpal's action as demeaning the dignity of a Malay ruler, who - in the Malay nationalists' narrative - is the symbol of Malay sovereignty on Tanahair Melayu!

In short, when Karpal Singh raises his question on the constitutional limits of the Perak Sultan, it does not matter whether he is right or wrong on points of law. What matters that he has insulted Malay sovereignty in general, and a particular Sultan in particular. Ultra sensitive ultra-Malay nationalists are wont to go amok and start a riot. That is why he must be charged under the Seditious Act- according to this Umno dominated government.

What Karpal wants is a clarification based on the rule of law. What Umno wants is the rule of nameless, baseless, and perhaps non-existent "sensitivities".

A leopard cannot change its skin. An old dog cannot learn new tricks. Despite all that talk about listening to the people and reinventing Umno, the pretenders of ultra-Malay nationalists will revert to their old ways of intimidation, obsession with power, and mindless racial tactics.

There is only one thing to be done. We must overthrow the Umno-led government at the federal level during the next general election. Then perhaps the numerous stupid laws like the Sedition Act can be repealed. Then Malaysia will have a chance for greatness.

As for Raja Petra Kamarudin, I am glad he has called off his hunger strike and paid off his bail money. The stake is not high enough. Our effort to make Malaysia a truly wonderful country has just begun. We need every good Malaysian soul like mad.