The Malaysian Insight

RULERS should be open to criticism but there are limits, law academics said in a TV programme last night.

Those who criticise rulers must be mindful of their manners and should not go overboard by hurling insults, said Associate Professor Azmi Sharom of Universiti Malaya’s law faculty, adding that it was not wrong for the people to speak up if the rulers had committed any wrongdoings.

“It is not wrong for the people to say something if the rulers have made some mistakes or acted excessively. It is just inappropriate if the people use foul language,” he said in an interview on the TV AlHijrah programme “Analisis”, hosted by newscaster Syafinaz Yunus, last night.

“A few insulting comments on Facebook do not mean the whole country is rude towards the rulers. Maybe only one or two are ‘kurang ajar’ (rude), but we are being so sensitive, acting as if the whole country is like that.

“We have to be more mature. We have a constitutional monarchy today, where the powers of the rulers are subject to the federal constitution. This is not the era of the glorious Malacca Sultanate.”

The TV programme discussed the institution of rulers, the recent abdication of Sultan Muhammad V as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the insults on social media against the monarchy and former King, and the appointment of the new King from a legal perspective.

It also discussed the arrests of three social media users under the Sedition Act for allegedly insulting the former King.

Azmi doubted there were “hundreds or thousands” of people insulting the monarchy or the rulers.

“We should not look at it emotionally,” he said, pointing out that other monarchies in the world also face criticisms from their subjects, except for the monarchy in Thailand, where the laws protecting the royals are very stringent.

“In Britain, the royals are always criticised but the monarchy is still there. They just don’t pay attention to the criticism. 

“We are not so used to (having our royals criticised in Malaysia), but we are still rather ‘sopan santun’ (civil).”

On the use of the Sedition Act to investigate the three social media users, Azmi said he “totally disagreed” with this.

He said the use of the old British law was not in line with the Pakatan Harapan government’s pledge to repeal such controversial laws.

“Ideally, a person should not face a sedition charge over what he had said. If we can deny the right to speak in this area, we can deny it elsewhere too.”

Azmi acknowledged that there should be limitations on the freedom to speak in terms of slander, incitement and hate speech.

But when it came to the royals in Malaysia, he said the institution of Malay rulers was strong enough to handle one or two ‘mulut celupar’ (foul mouth).

On whether there were specific laws protecting royals in Malaysia, Associate Professor Shamrahayu Abd Aziz, who was also in the programme, said the Sedition Act also defined sedition as “bringing hatred, contempt, or inciting dissatisfaction against any ruler, any government, or the justice system of Malaysia”.

“The Sedition Act is weak in the sense that it doesn’t require the proof of intent. It means once something is said, there is a presumption of guilt.

“That is one area in the law that needs to be improved,” the International Islamic University Malaysia law lecturer said.

On Thursday, de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong said the government was thinking of amending existing laws or introducing new ones to protect the country’s rulers from insults.

Shamrahayu said that even with the Sedition Act in place, the people should not be afraid to criticise the rulers, as long as they were not being insulting.

“The Sedition Act does not prevent people from criticising anyone – even the rulers if they had done something against the law.

“The authorities should also realise that the people should not just support the rulers to the extent of causing detriment to the institution,” she said.

On whether Malaysia needed a new law for the purpose, Azmi said it might “be dangerous” to introduce a legislature like Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws, which made it illegal to say anything bad about the monarchy.

“They use it to oppress the people, who are not allowed to say anything. Even criticising a dress designed by the King’s daughter is not allowed.”

He was referring to news last month of a popular YouTube presenter getting into trouble with the law after she described a Miss Universe dress designed by Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana as “ugly”.

“If the government wants to introduce a new law, it has to be very careful. The Conference of Rulers also has to be consulted because the law involves them,” he said. – January 12, 2019.