No Ulterior Motives To Retain Sedition Act

KUALA LUMPUR: There are no ulterior motives behind Barisan Nasional (BN) government move by retaining the Sedition Act 1948 as it is only meant to protect the sensitivities of all Malaysians.

Stressing this, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said that BN don't have any other motives in retaining the Sedition Act but only for the protection of the people.

"The survival of BN does not lie with the Sedition Act, but with the people of Malaysia. The act cannot ensure that BN will be re-elected in the next general election,” he added.

He said this in his speech when officiating the 61st People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Annual General Meeting held near here yesterday.

Reiterating that the retaining of the law was not about protecting the rights of Malays and Muslims, Najib stressed out that such move is also the rights of non-Muslims and non-Malays.

"It was important to retain the Sedition Act as even in the developed nations around the world are struggling to cope with racial tension and violence."

He said that even developed countries are not immune to religious and racial tension as not too long ago, there was a racial riot occurred in London.

Najib then citied that in the last couple of days, there are massive demonstrations in Mississippi, Ferguson, where stores were burning and looting was taking place.

“God forbid, if such things happened here, it can turn out to be very ugly as people could be killed and should that happened, everything we have built since independence could be destroyed overnight. We cannot afford to let that happen here,” he added.

Giving an assurance that the enforcement of the Sedition Act would be done in a fair and transparent manner, Najib said that anyone who incites racial and religious hatred will be dealt with accordingly.

"This is to ensure that there is no conflict among the races in the country,” he added. - Sarawakiana