Gobind: Sedition Act will be repealed, sooner or later

KUALA LUMPUR: Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, who will suggest a moratorium on the Sedition Act to the Cabinet today, says that plans to repeal the Act is very much on track.

“I will bring up the moratorium issue to the Cabinet (today) for discussion,” he said.

“I mentioned in my tweet very clearly that I have been informed by Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas that efforts are being made to repeal the Act, and that this will be tabled in the coming Parliament meeting.

“You must understand that this is the Budget session. The Budget, of course, will get priority for Bills and I understand that there is a heavy list of Bills to be tabled,” he told reporters after a dialogue session at “Malaysia: A New Dawn” conference yesterday.

A moratorium on an Act will disallow authorities from using it to arrest anyone for sedition.

Asked whether he was opposing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had said that the Sedition Act was staying for the time being, Gobind said the media had misunderstood the Prime Minister.

“If you see the video clip of what Tun Dr Mahathir said, it is very different from what was reported.

“He was asked about Lokman Adam’s brother’s arrest, and his position was that the police are still using it because it is still there. Yes, as far as he is concerned, it will be abolished.

“When asked for the timeframe, he was not in the position to say as we are looking at many different Bills,” said Gobind.

Public groups have called upon the Pakatan Harapan government to uphold its manifesto promise not to use the Sedition Act and repeal it after police arrested Azman Noor Adam, a brother of Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam, who was arrested under the Sedition Act.

On the issue of political owner ship in media, he said there were no hard and fast rules.

“There are concerns that reports made by certain media and certain companies are slanted politically because of political ownership.

“Some people argue it is not only ownership but also control. What we want is no interference in reports released by the media and that the media is free,” said Gobind.

He had earlier stated that a government decision on media ownership by people with political links would be made after his ministry presented its study on the matter to the Cabinet.

I will bring up the moratorium issue to the Cabinet (today) for discussion. Gobind Singh Deo