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MERSING, May 7 (Bernama) -- The government will leave it to the Attorney-General (AG) to decide whether action should be taken against DAP chairman Karpal Singh for questioning the action of the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah over the transfer and reappointment of the Perak Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jaip) director.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he believed that the AG would act accordingly if Karpal's action could threaten stability and public order.
"We believe the AG's Chambers would look into this matter. The power to prosecute is with the AG's Chambers. We leave it to the AG to assess the situation."
Najib, who is also Defence Minister, was speaking to reporters after accompanying the Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on a visit to the Iskandar Camp, here Wednesday.
Najib was asked on the suggestion by prominent lawyer Datuk Shafee Abdullah that Karpal could be charged under the Sedition Act.
According to Shafee, Karpal's action could be deemed as causing friction between the people and palace.
The deputy prime minister was also asked about Karpal questioning the speech of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the opening of the 12th session of parliament last week, as reported by the media on Wednesday.
Najib replied that Karpal's latest statement could be regarded as trying to ridicule an important institution, the monarchy, in this country.
He was also asked on the government's action against blogger and 'Malaysia Today' editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the Sedition Act 1948 for carrying an article on Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder on the website about two weeks ago. The murder trial is ongoing at the Shah Alam High Court.
Najib said the government's action had no political motive and did not suggest that the government was coming down hard on bloggers and Internet citizens.
"The government will continue to be liberal towards bloggers and netizens, but this country has laws on libel and defamation.
"Just because we operate cyberspace, it doesn't mean you are absolved of having to comply with the laws of the nation," he said, adding that he did not believe the government's action against Raja Petra would affect the country's good name.
Instead, he said, the action was to "to draw the line between right and wrong.
On the tragedy brought by the cyclone in Myanmar which so far had killed 22,000 people, Najib said the government was prepared to provide humanitarian aid to the Myanmar government.
-- BERNAMA | |
