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The Sedition Act
The Sedition Act criminalizes "seditious words" and acts with a "seditious tendency." Currently facing charges for sedition are:
- Marina Yusoff - former vice-president of the National Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Nasional).
- Zulkifli Sulong and Chia Lim Thye - editor and printer of the opposition newspaper Harakan.
- Karpal Singh - prominent Malaysian defense attorney and lead counsel for Anwar Ibrahim.
More..
The Printing Presses and Publications Act
The Printing Presses and Publications Act gives the Ministry of Home Affairs unreviewable discretion to grant or revoke mandatory publishing licenses on broad and subjective grounds. Since the November 1999 elections, the Home Ministry has restricted or shut down the following publications: More..
- Harakah - limited to publishing twice a month.
- Detik magazine - shut down in March 2000.
- Other publications, including the youth magazine Al-Wasilah, face the possibility that their licenses will not be renewed when they expire this year.
- Irene Fernandez - currently on trial for malicious publication of false news under the act in what has become the longest trial in Malaysian history. The incident that provoked these charges was her 1995 publication of a short memorandum on abuses in Malaysia's immigration detention centers. More..
Unlawful Assembly
Malaysia's Police Act requires a permit for gatherings of three or more people. Persons gathering without a permit may be arrested for unlawful assembly. The local police district has discretion to refuse or cancel a license as it sees fit, and districts have routinely denied permits to opposition organizers. Rallies in support of the opposition have been common since Anwar's arrest in September 1998, with recent arrests following a rally on April 15, 2000, marking the one-year anniversary of Anwar's imprisonment.
On March 25, 2000, the government banned all outdoor gatherings in Kuala Lumpur of more than four people for an indefinite period. The ban followed demonstrations protesting the restrictions on opposition media. More..
The Internal Security Act (ISA)
The Internal Security Act allows for indefinite detention without trial and allows for arrest without a warrant anyone any police officer has "reason to believe" has acted or likely to act in "any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia." The act was used to detain Anwar and his supporters in September 1998.
The Official Secrets Act (OSA)
The Official Secrets Act proscribes the collection, possession, or distribution directly or indirectly to a foreign country of official information. Any public officer can declare any document or other piece of information an official secret - a certification that cannot be questioned in court.
- Mohamed Ezam Mohamed Nor - National Justice Party (Keadilan) National Youth Chief facing charges of possessing copies of reports of the Anti-Corruption Agency that the government declared to be official secrets and of passing those reports to journalists on November 6, 1999.
Withholding Government Contracts
Malaysia's ruling party has also retaliated against the opposition at the state level. In March 2000 the Malacca state government blacklisted private doctors, lawyers, architects, contractors, and other professionals who were opposition party members. The government also transferred civil servants supportive of the opposition out of the state or to other agencies. The chief minister of the state reportedly stated that, the measure were intended "to serve as a warning to opposition party supporters that they have no place in Malacca."
The Malacca government also forbade its employees from visiting the two states controlled by PAS and pulled some state funds out of two banks with employees who campaigned for the opposition. The banks responded by promising to take action against those employees. One, Bank Islam, gave the government a list of employees who openly supported the opposition and fired individuals who ran as opposition candidates in the November elections.
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