‘Aye’ to PM’s stand on allowing criticism
MIRI: The response to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in calling for the police not to arrest those who criticise him has been given the thumbsup.
Miri MP Dr Michael Teo said politicians in many matured democratic countries are regularly subjected to criticisms and know how to respond sensibly.
He said the public has the right to comment constructively on policies while at the same time highlight deficiencies so as to bring improvements to the government and the country.
“However, we should never touch on race or religion or condemn others based on our own beliefs,” he said yesterday.
As such, Dr Teo feels that the police should know what constitutes an offence that requires their intervention.
United People’s Party ( UPP) Pujut chairman Bruce Chai, meanwhile said he agreed with Dr Mahathir’s take that the arrest was unnecessary because politicians must be able to accept criticism.
“As a leader, one has to accept with dignity all criticisms, queries and even insults in the current era.
“If you practise and follow the rule of law, there is no need to be worried about criticism,” he said.
He also described the police’s action in arresting those who hurled insults when there was no safety threat involved, as ‘heavyhanded’.
“If there is insinuation of physical threat to our leaders, then it would be necessary to investigate the perpetrators.”
Meanwhile, private college
However, we should never touch on race or religion or condemn others based on our own beliefs. Dr Michael Teo, Miri MP
lecturer Karambir Singh said he welcomed the prime minister’s stand on the issue, saying: “It is good to note that Tun Dr Mahathir is so gracious in this case.”
He stressed that it was more important to focus on the issues at hand and that disagreements or criticisms, especially in politics, should not result in ‘victimisation’.
However, a line needs to be drawn when criticisms become personal and abusive, he said, adding the Sedition Act should ‘only be used sparingly’.
Dr Mahathir was quoted in a news portal yesterday saying he disagreed with the action of the police in detaining a man who had allegedly insulted him on Facebook, saying the arrest should not have been made as he ‘did not mind being insulted by anybody’.
“It ( being insulted) is not going to affect me. There was one case in Penang and I told police not to take action on them (insulters),” he said. The prime minister was responding to the arrest of Azman Noor Adam under Section 4 of the Sedition Act 1948 for allegedly spreading insulting images of the premier on social media.