Lawyers who submitted the motion to discuss attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali’s position for refusing to prosecute Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over deposits in his personal bank accounts have been summoned by police under the Sedition Act.
Francis Pereira, one of three lawyers who proposed the motion at the Malaysian Bar annual general assembly (AGM) on March 19, confirmed that he received a letter from Bukit Aman.
Pereira added that his colleague, R Shanmugam, who was another proposer of the motion, also received the letter.
“The Bukit Aman letter clearly states that it is with regard to a police report made on the motion presented at the Bar AGM.
“They said the investigation is under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.
Section 4(1) concerns offences that have a seditious tendency.
The Malaysian Bar Council, the governing body of the legal profession, passed a motion accusing the government of misusing the law to try to conceal criminal acts by the Prime Minister and his criminal associates; among whom must prominently be mentioned the Atrorney General, Apandi.
In any genuine democratic country such a atep would never occur, because the politicans concerned would long since have resigned their offices and submitted themselves to investigation.
Unfortunately Malaysia is no longer a democracy governed by the rule of law. It was to draw attention to this state of affairs that the Bar Council acted as it did, and was bound by its professional ethics to do.
At the time there was no official reaction of any kind. Honest men so accused would have instantly sued for defamation. But Najib and his cronies, despite being daily accused of heinous crimes and despite having packed many courts with complaisant judges have never begun even one defamation action.
Why not? The answer is crystal clear. They dare not face a civil court. They even have an offence of criminal defamation on their statute book but dare not prosecute. So, pitifully they resort to a colonial offence of “sedition” which consists of criticising the government. But rarely do they go so far as to charge “seditionists” in Court knowing that such charges must fail.
So, with childish spite they call in citizens to the police buildings for ‘interview” Only too happy to beat up helpless members of a minority community the thugs of Bukit Aman will not dare to do more to these Bar Council members than utter empty and meaningless threats.