MalayMail-Nov 30
Legal group Lawyers for Liberty today called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to drop all investigations into his critics and uphold Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) promise of government reform. Its director Zaid Malek said the new government must avoid the pitfalls and excesses of previous governments if it truly wants to empower free speech and a robust democratic culture. “We call upon the new government and prime minister to uphold their promise of reform in the GE15 manifesto and halt all investigations on critics of the prime minister,” he said in a statement. “It is unacceptable for the new government, which promised reforms, to immediately call for police action against critics of the prime minister,” he added. He noted that PKR communications chief Fahmi Fadzil had said two days ago that the prime minister had instructed the police to take action on “slanderous” critics. Several news outlets, including The Star and Malaysiakini, reported Fahmi telling reporters on Monday night that Anwar had no problems with those questioning his choice of footwear but drew the line at slander, giving as example those who accused the PM of being an Israeli agent. Bukit Aman has confirmed an investigation on PAS’ Baling MP Hassan Saad over the Israeli allegation, under Section 504 and Section 500 of the Penal Code for defamation and intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace respectively, as well as Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of network facilities. But Zaid viewed involving the police on slander as an abuse of power. Read more at:
