Sedition dragnet inspires youth activists to keep on fighting

Despite seeing a student activist and an academician caught in Putrajaya’s sedition dragnet, other young activists are not giving in to fear and say the “unjust” actions have only made them stronger.

The jail sentence for activist Safwan Anang and sedition charges against law professor Dr Azmi Sharom have only spurred others on to get the Sedition Act repealed.

Safwan Samsudin, the Pro-Mahasiswa Nasional chairman, described the crackdown as a move by the government to safeguard its survival.

“It might work on the students who are new to activism but for me, it does not affect me. I believe in what I am doing. The more we are suppressed, the stronger we will bounce back,” said Safwan.

Another student activist, Lau Yi Leong, from the Malaysia Youth and Students' Democratic Movement (Dema) said it was at this very moment that activists should fight even harder against repressive forces.

“This is a price for being critical against the government. This is its tactic silence its critics. We only want the government to improve and we are doing it with good intentions,” said Lau.

He said the charges against Safwan and Azmi were overboard.

Safwan Anang, a former chairperson of Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM), was found guilty of sedition and sentenced to 10 months’ jail yesterday.

Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court judge Norsharisah Awang found Safwan guilty in a speech delivered on May 13 last year.

Norsharisah said the court was satisfied that words uttered by Safwan had a seditious tendency.

In his speech at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur, Safwan was accused of inciting the public to topple a legitimate government ‎through illegal means.

The 24-year-old ‎Safwan, who has a young wife and baby, has been granted a stay of execution pending an appeal and was released after posting bail of RM15,000.

Azmi, 45, a University Malaya law professor was charged with sedition on Monday over his remarks on the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis while commenting on the Selangor menteri besar crisis. He pleaded not guilty.

He is the first academic to be hauled up by Putrajaya for sedition, and faces a principle charge of uttering a seditious statement, an offence under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948.

He was also slapped with an alternative charge of publishing the seditious statement, an offence under Section 4(1)(c) of the same law.

Both offences carry a jail term of up to three years or a maximum fine of RM5,000, or both if found guilty.

Critics say the use of the colonial-era law by Putrajaya against opposition politicians is seen as an attempt to silence its foes. Now, a journalist and the news portal she works for, Malaysiakini, are also being investigated under the Sedition Act for an article that allegedly defamed the police.

The slew of sedition charges comes two years after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak first promised to repeal the act.

For Wan Nur Syamimi Wan Sajiri, chair of Sisters in Movement, watching Safwan and Azmi go through what they did has only made her group more resilient.

“It has made others want to know more about why the government is doing all this. Students have every right to speak up. If not us, who else would step forward and point out the discrepancies and the injustices that are happening?

"We are the check and balance in the system. We are not affiliated with any political party. We should be allowed to voice our opinion,” said Syamimi.

She said she aware of the consequences of being critical of the government and prepared for the worst.

Meanwhile, former student activist, Shukri Razab, said the government’s old tactic of instilling a culture of fear among students was not going to work.

“It has never worked before and it is not going to work now. They are not scared anymore. This is a repeated move and it is going to backfire,” said Shukri.

He said the government had failed to use its powers of incumbency to show that it has improved since being winning the last general election.

“We thought we saw some hope in people like Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, the progressive voices in Umno. They were vocal in bringing up issues. I wonder what they think about this now,” said Shukri.

He said youth movements like Lensa Anak Muda Malaysia were watching political developments in the country closely.

Charging Putrajaya critics under the Sedition Act will only bring Najib down, said Shukri, and added that the government should learn to accept criticism as it was part of democracy.

“The ruling party might lose in the coming general election if it continues to slap its critics with the draconian law,” said Shukri.

“But I thank the government for sentencing Safwan and charging Azmi. It is like a promotional tool. More people now want to know why they were charged,” said Shukri.

He said Lensa Anak Muda is going to launch a programme on Tuesday to educate the public on the Sedition Act. – September 6, 2014.