PETALING JAYA: Malaysians have only themselves to
blame for the retention of the Sedition Act 1948 as Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Tun Razak had "noble will" to abolish it, but was made to
think twice due to "idiotic" behaviour, said Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan(photo).
"It was not easy for the Prime Minister to rescind his earlier
promise to abolish the #SeditionAct. We made him do it. He was ready.
But we Malaysians were not," said the Kota Belud MP via his official
@mpkotabelud Twitter account on Thursday evening.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Urban Well-being, Housing and Local
Government Minister, added that Najib had "noble will" to repeal the
Act, but Malaysians betrayed Najib's trust and could not reciprocate his
goodwill.
He also said that instead of giving Najib confidence that things
would be all right after the Act was repealed, Malaysians gave him
"nightmares" instead.
"No Prime Minister worth his salt would repeal the Sedition Act after
seeing how we could be capable of spewing hatred and venom at each
other!
"So the Prime Minister acted rightly. He monitored. He listened. He
evaluated. He didn't like what he saw. Don't blame him. Blame
ourselves.
"Even before it was officially abolished, lots of us were behaving like idiots," said Abdul Rahman in a series of tweets.
He added that the stability of Malaysia rests squarely on Najib's shoulders.
"So Mr PM, do what you think is right. We support you," he said.
He went on to say that with or without the Sedition Act, no one was
prevented from criticising Government policies.
"That right still
exists. Even now it exists with so much latitude," he said in a series
of further tweets.
Abdul Rahman had also tweeted that it was more than a political issue to call for the independence of Sabah and Sarawak.
"It is seditious to talk about removing Sabah from Malaysia, it is
not a political issue. It is a national security issue and must be dealt
with firmly.
"I thank Najib for making the right decision to make it an offence
under the Sedition Act to make secession (calls) seditious.
The
Government is responsible for the safety and security of the nation. Not
the Opposition" said Abdul Rahman.
Source: The Star
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