YOURSAY 'Before the sports minister's house was broken into recently, our crime rate was down, with a good KPI. Nothing is okay now?'

Zahid nay to ending Sedition Act, says law still needed

Versey: Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, please tell us, did your predecessor and the former and present inspector-generals of police (IGP) lie to the people about the dropping crime rate. Or has the crime rate has increased since you came into the office?

To the rakyat, it sounds like either the former are liars and not trustworthy, or there are issues about your abilities on the job. Can we still believe in the KPI figures so proudly presented to the public by your colleagues?

Wisdom: What the heck is Zahid talking about? Before Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's house was broken into, Malaysia's crime rate had reduced, and Pemandu's KPI showed improvement in public confidence in the crime situation. Now everything is not okay? How so?

Because BN has swept things under the carpet, and now it gets smelly and is being exposed? That's why they should let the experts carry out their duties. Politicians are supposed to monitor and suggest constructive ideas, not talk bull and waste the rakyat's money.

????: Zahid talks about an "alleged rise in the crime rate following the abolition of the EO". But if I remember correctly, the police said the crime rate has been dropping sharply since Prime Minister Najib Razak came into office. And the police claim that the rise in the crime rate is only a matter of perception created by certain media. Which is the truth?

Dannyone: So now they admit the high crime rate is not perception and it is increasing. Which means former home minister Hishammuddin Hussein was lying and the statistic report the government prepared was fake? I am confused.

Abasir : Zahid, can you get Pemandu chief Idris Jala and his ‘Perception Management & Denial Unit' Pemandu to repeat what you have now said? Come on, all together now: "Look at the situation in society now, the crime rate is increasing." What is that you are saying... they refuse to follow your lead?

Aries46: Mr Minister, why blame the withdrawal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) or whatever for the spike in crime? Any number of laws will not deter crime if the laws are applied selectively. As for the Sedition Act, your reasons for retaining it is debatable but why is it being used in most instances on opposition-related activists and that too on rather flimsy grounds?

What about those who had openly breached the Act, such as former Appeals Court judge Mohd Noor Abdullah by threatening non-Malays for voting the opposition, UiTM pro-chancellor Abdul Rahman Arshad wanting to abolish vernacular schools, Utusan Malaysia 's frequent racist writings and the worst of the lot, former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad forever blaming the non-Malays for all the ills of his legacy, etc, etc?

Those who had openly defied the rulers have not been prosecuted. Even traitors who had sold ICs to illegal immigrants are allowed a free reign. So where do you draw the line, minister? If not whatever you are saying will amount to nothing more than that the Sedition Act has to be retained to rope in those perceived as a threat to the ruling regime.

Think_act_live_now: Zahid said without the Sedition Act there would be "nothing left" - nothing left for what? Nothing left for the BN to silence the opposition? Nothing left to protect BN from the people exposing the truth? Indeed, there will be nothing left of the corruption and the lies of the BN.

Adsertor: The Sedition Act must be abolished. It has been and continues to be used as a political tool to suppress the oppositions, and not to curb seditious acts e.g. the numerous seditious rhetoric and acts of Malay rights group Perkasa.

Anonymous_454: Nothing left, Zahid? What about the courts? That's what they are for, to determine if someone had slandered and defamed. You need the Sedition Act because you do not want the courts to examine your claims, otherwise you will never get to silence anyone who has a legitimate grouse. Judging by the way the courts have ruled against Utusan in the various lawsuits, I am sure you are feeling up your Sedition Act as we speak.

FairGame: The abolition of the EO did not contribute to the increase in crime. It is the police's failure and lackadaisical attitude in combating crime. More so when they are more inclined to pander and be occupied with the government's instructions to harass and intimidate the opposition parties. And the Sedition Act has outlived its shelf life. Today, its sole purpose is to silence the opposition.

No Fool: The Sedition Act should be abolished so that the undemocratic and corrupt minority government cannot abuse their power to arrest opposition politicians. The rakyat are no fools and can clearly see the double standards practised by the BN government all this while.

Dr M, Perkasa and Utusan have never been charged for whatever seditious statements they have made but the BN government and police are very efficient at arresting opposition politicians using this Sedition Act. The rakyat are sick of such double standards and must insist on abolishing this unjust law.

Survivor: Home Minister Zahid, contrary to your view, those who slander, make wild accusations and racist remarks are usually Umno Baru and their friendly NGOs. It's your selective use of the law that irks the people.

Further, it is not the abolition of the EO that has caused crime to rise but the lack of professionalism of the police and their patronising or being lackey to Umno Baru that has caused the rise in crime. Your reasoning and allegation are baseless and unfounded.

Bumiasli: The only sensible thing that Zahid has said so far is that crime rates are increasing. As for the Sedition Act, fine, let it stay but then it must be applied to all seditious cases - or is there an exception clause that exempts BN stooges from being charged?

Mohican: When the EO was abolished the police should have seen to it that all ex-detainees under the ordinance report to the nearest police station every week. This would have kept a check on the real criminals.

Instead they allowed them to roam free and so they now go on a frolic of their own. Who is to be blamed, other than the police themselves? This is what you call gross inefficiency.

Yap CS: I did not know that laws like ISA, EO and Sedition Act are all used to cover the incompetence of the police, Special Branch and Home Ministry. So people are detained/arrested and jailed sometimes for years, even for a decade, because the police, Special Branch and home minister are unable to do their job of investigating and getting evidence.

Onyourtoes: Democracy does not need a Sedition Act. Democracy does not need selective investigation, selective prosecution and selective persecution. Democracy needs free contest of ideas and access to media so that fiction and falsehoods can be sieved from truth and facts.

Truth will always prevail if ideas are vigorously debated. The sedition law as it exists today allows one group to perpetuate falsehoods and foment hatred while it victimises another group that tries to defend itself.

If you can't see it, Zahid, you are a nincompoop. With regard to the EO, I don't think you have the statistics to back what you are inferring. The EO has turned the Malaysian police force into a brutal force, not a force based on law and justice.

Kanasai: Mature and responsible citizens, who make up the majority, know how to behave and with strong sensitivity. Only clowns, like Perkasa heads Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin and Dr ‘Apa Nama' M who are insensitive, should be cast far into the interior, where they can shout whatever and however they want.

Zahid should be more responsible as a minister by looking into how the police force is organised that to focus on the Sedition Act. He should be busy and working hard to improve the effectiveness of the police force. He does not understand what his priority is and is hiding behind the smoke screen of the Sedition Act.

JomUbahUbah: This Umno home minister who is being sued by somebody for attacking people has no moral ground to bark.

Jean Pierre: In Malaysia, flip-flop is no longer a piece of footwear.

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