Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General And MP For BaganLim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 31.3.2015.
Inspector-Generalof Police(IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is madly lying for tweeting that policehave adopted a “no tolerance” policy on sedition, when no action istaken against UMNO leaders who make seditious, false and provocative remarksagainst non-Muslims and non-Malays. This morning, police detained The Edgepublisher Ho Kay Tat and The Malaysian Insider(TMI) chief executive JahabarSadiq when they presented themselves at the Dang Wangi district policeheadquarters for questioning.
Beforethat, TMI managing editor Lionel Morais, senior editors Amin Shah Iskandar andZulkifli Sulong were arrested and held overnight over a report on theConference of Rulers published by the news portal which is said to beerroneous. The five are investigated under Section 4 of the Sedition Act forpublishing seditious material and Section 233 of the Communication andMultimedia Act 1998. If found guilty, they can be fined up to RM5,000 andjailed up to three years or both. Under Section 233 of the Communications andMultimedia Act, they can be fined up to RM50,000, jailed up to a year or both.
More than150 opposition politicians and civil society activists have been arrested sinceFebruary for various offences. And yet no action has been taken by the IGPagainst Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob forhis lies in calling a boycott of Chinese traders for refusing to reduce pricesand that the Chinese oppresses the Malays.
BeforeIsmail, another outrageous and inflammatory lie was by former UMNO DeputyMinister Dr Mashitah Ibrahim during the UMNO General Assembly last year thatthe Chinese community in Kedah had burned the Quran in a Chinese prayer ritualwhen it was done by a deranged Malay Muslim male. In the same UMNO GeneralAssembly, UMNO Permatang Pauh Division Chairman Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said madea false claim that the political and economic strength of the Chinese in Penangcomes from illegal economic activities such as illegal gambling, prostitutionand entertainment outlets. Both did not retract or apologise for theirbaseless attacks and no action was taken by the IGP.
Any saneMalaysian must be mad to believe the IGP’s claims that the police has notolerance of sedition when he practices such blatant double-standards andselective prosecution. The IGP may be proud to be called mad when he launchessuch arbitrary and high-handed arrests. However there is no method in hismadness except abuse of power and targeting only those who oppose his politicalmasters, BN.
DAP callsfor the immediate release of all those arrested, including journalists who aretrying to report news. If their reporting is wrong, they can be sued fordefamation or punished with fines. To arrest and put them under remand is anexercise in excessive victimisation, harassment and hounding of journalistsdoing their job. Where is the freedom of the press when those who writenegative or wrong news about the BN government is immediately punished withunnecessary and unreasonable periods of detention?
Again, whyis there no similar treatment against pro-BN press who writes lies about PR oreven against me as Penang Chief Minister. I have won countless defamation suitsagainst Utusan Malaysia and New Straits Times(NST) and yet no Utusan or NSTjournalist have to suffer what TMI has to endure from the harsh tactics of theIGP. Taking such harsh measures against journalists is counter-productive andwill only give Malaysia another international black eye for not practicing whatthe Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak preaches on freedom and moderation.
LIM GUAN ENG
—-Mandarin —
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2015年3月31日在吉隆坡发表声明：
全国总警长丹斯里卡立阿布巴卡在推文上说谎，他说警方针对煽动采取“零容忍”姿态，但是警方却没有对付针对非穆斯林及非马来人发表煽动性、虚假甚至是虚假煽动性言论的巫统领袖。
全国总警长丹斯里卡立阿布巴卡在推文上说谎，他说警方针对煽动采取“零容忍”姿态，但是警方却没有对付针对非穆斯林及非马来人发表煽动性、虚假甚至是虚假煽动性言论的巫统领袖。今天早上，警方逮捕《The Edge》出版人何启达与《大马内幕者》首席执行员嘉哈巴沙迪（Jahabar Sadiq），他们两人是於今早受传召到金马警区总部录供，后被警方援引煽动法警方逮捕。
之前，警方针对上述新闻网站关于马来统治者理事会的报道（据说有误），援引《煽动法令》逮捕3名编辑，包括了执行编辑里奥尼莫利斯（Lionel Morais）、马来文新闻编辑阿敏沙依斯甘达（Amin Shah Iskandar）及专题与分析新闻编辑祖基菲里苏龙（Zulkifli Sulong），他们五个人皆在煽动法令第4条文“刊登煽动性文章”及1998年通讯多媒体法令第233条文下被控。一旦罪成，他们将面对最高罚款5000令吉及监禁3年或两者兼施。在通讯多媒体法令第233条文下，最高罚款为5万令吉、监禁 1年或两者兼施。
在依斯迈之前，我国来自巫统的前副部长马西达去年在巫统全国代表大会上怪罪吉打州华裔社群在华人的祭拜活动上焚烧《可兰经》，事实上是一名马来精神病患所为。在那个巫统大会上，巫统峇东埔区会主席拿督莫哈末再迪也发表错误声明，他说，槟城华人的政治及经济力量来自非法经济活动如：非法赌博、娼妓业及娱乐业。但是他们两人都没有撤回言论或为自己的言论道歉。
自从今年二月以来，超过150家反对党政治人物及社运分子已经被逮捕。但是，农业及农基部长拿督斯里依斯迈号召抵制华商，还谎称华商拒绝降低物价及打压马来人，但是总警长却没有对付他们。
在依斯迈之前，我国来自巫统的前副部长马西达去年在巫统全国代表大会上怪罪吉打州华裔社群在华人的祭拜活动上焚烧《可兰经》，事实上是一名马来精神病患所为。在那个巫统大会上，巫统峇东埔区会主席拿督莫哈末再迪也发表错误声明，他说，槟城华人的政治及经济力量来自非法经济活动如：非法赌博、娼妓业及娱乐业。但是他们两人都没有撤回言论或为自己的言论道歉，全国总警长也没有对付他们。
理智的马来西亚人如果相信总警长对煽动行为“零容忍”，一定是疯了，他根本就是双重标准及选择性逮捕。或是当总警长采取独断及高压手段而被称“疯子”时，他会因此感到自豪。但是，他的“疯狂”桥段就只是滥权并描准他的政治主子- 国阵- 的政敌。
行动党促请当局马上释放那些被逮捕的人士，包括报道新闻的记者。如果他们的报道有错误，他们可以被提控诽谤或罚款。但是，把他们还押扣留，就是对记者职责的一种过度欺负、骚扰及打击。如果报道国阵负面新闻或错误新闻的记者马上遭到不必要、不合理扣留的处罚，新闻自由到底在哪里？
再说，为什么当局没有对付那些虚假报道民联甚至我身为槟州首长的亲国阵记者？我在控告《马来西亚前锋报》及《新海峡时报》 诽谤方面已经胜诉了几次，但是《前锋报》或《新海峡时报》都还没有遭受全国总警长对付《大马内幕者》那样的遭遇，如此严厉对付记者只会造成反效果，让马来西亚在国际形象上又多一个黑眼圈，因为首相所倡导的自由及中庸只沦为空谈。
林冠英