It was only a matter of time before RPK was hauled up for the statements made on Malaysia Today. He is a great man, but even I find it hard to swallow his posts sometimes. I stopped reading MT regularly partly because of this, and partly because the unadulterated anger in the hundreds of comments left on his posts make me wince.

In the infamous post “Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell” RPK accuses Najib of everything short of triggering the C4 himself. Najib had his press secretary write a letter to MT warning that he would “seek legal redress”. RPK thanked him for the letter, but stood by his guns.

Quite frankly, considering the accusations made, any leader would certainly have charged the person making them. Hey, at least we are under Najib in Malaysia and not Putin in Russia, where critical journalists mysteriously disappear.

That being said, the charge under the Sedition Act, as Polytikus points out, is unwarranted and a travesty. Part of the problem is the loose wording of the Act:

(c) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Malaysia or in any State;

(d) to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the subjects of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or of the Ruler of any State or amongst the inhabitants of Malaysia or of any State;

(e) to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia; or

I can certainly think of many examples where the current government has been guilty of sedition!

Sedition is, according to the dictionary, the “incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government”. But Najib is flattering himself if he thinks that he is the government. This is not an isolated example - Lim Guan Eng was also charged under the Sedition Act when he alleged that Rahim Thamby Chik, then CM of Malacca, had raped a young Malay girl.

The more suitable charge is libel. Accross the causeway, Lee Kuan Yew has happily charged detractors with libel suits - and won, most of the time. Unsavoury, but at least better than assuming that allegations against you are allegations against the country.

I am not sure what was going on with the “hunger strike” or the bail-raising stunts, but the next week should be interesting. I wouldn’t want RPK in jail, but with the government out to get him, I have that sinking feeling. Still, RPK hints he has an ace up his sleeve.

Popularity: 53% [?]