Many Muslims headed for jail under new sedition law

Zaid Ibrahim also condemned the Sedition Act’s proposed amendments equating it to a “Stalin type of law”.

PETALING JAYA: Reacting to the proposed amendments to the archaic Sedition Act 1948 that the Barisan Nasional-led government wishes to see passed in Parliament soon, a former law minister warned that the ones who would feel the heat from it most, were the Malays themselves.

In a series of tweets today, Zaid Ibrahim also had harsh words for Barisan Nasional members of parliament who supported the amendments, saying they did not deserve to be in Parliament if this was their mindset.

“Any BN MP who supports the new Sedition law does not deserve to be there. The Malays will suffer most from this Stalin type of law,” he tweeted.

He also chastised the MPs, saying it was high time they at least familiarised themselves with the law and learnt how to reject something they knew fellow Muslims would be unjustly tried for.

“BN Muslim MPs must read the law for a change. They must say no when their fellow Muslims are going to be unjustly punished.”

He said he was sure many Muslims were headed for prison as the law did not tolerate criticisms towards religious bodies when he tweeted: “Offences against religion usually involve Muslims criticising religious authorities. Many of them will now go to jail.”

Observing how some Malay leaders got offended when others called them “stupid”, Zaid said the only way to prove the critics wrong was to stand up and reject instead of support laws that stifled the freedom of the people.

He tweeted: “Malay leaders get upset when some people described them as stupid; but they rebut this by rejecting this new Stalin type law.”