Why didn’t Muhyiddin, Hamzah abolish Sedition Act while in govt, says Puad

August 30, 2024

Why didn’t Muhyiddin, Hamzah abolish Sedition Act while in govt, says Puad

PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has hit back at criticism by a Bersatu leader and a former aide to Muhyiddin Yassin over the use of the Sedition Act against Muhyiddin.

Puad said there was no need to brag about how Muhyiddin had never used the law against his political rivals when he was the home minister from 2018 to 2020.

“He was the prime minister for 17 months. At that time, Hamzah was the home minister,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin.

“Why wasn’t the Sedition Act abolished then?”

Last night, Hamzah labelled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Harapan’s leaders hypocrites for using the Sedition Act against the Bersatu president, as they had previously opposed the law and promised to abolish it if they came to power.

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He also railed against Anwar and PH for their “repeated and cruel usage” of the Act after coming to power to oppress their opponents.

Separately, Muhyiddin’s former aide, Marzuki Mohamad, claimed that when Muhyiddin was the home minister, there was a moratorium with regard to the use of the law pending a review.

Marzuki said Muhyiddin was part of a committee that was reviewing the Sedition Act.

Meanwhile, in response to criticisms of the “cruel usage” of the Act, Puad said slandering the former king was “equally cruel”.

“He lied about the 115 MPs,” he said, referring to Muhyiddin’s claim that he had the majority to form the new government. “That’s incitement.”

On Tuesday, Muhyiddin claimed trial at the sessions court in Gua Musang, Kelantan, to a charge of making seditious remarks at a ceramah in the run-up to the Nenggiri by-election.

According to court documents, the Perikatan Nasional chairman had questioned why he was not invited by the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, to be sworn in as the prime minister after the 15th general election, despite having the backing of 115 MPs.