KUALA LUMPUR: The Sedition Act 1948 will be repealed and replaced with a new National Harmony Act in the latest measure under the country's political transformation plan, announced Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The Prime Minister also announced that recent amendments to laws as well as new ones relating to civil liberties would be implemented immediately.
They are the Security Offences Act (Special Measures), the Printing Presses and Publications Act involving newspapers' annual permit as well as the Universities and University Colleges Act that allows students to be involved in politics.
He said the decision to replace the Sedition Act was made to find a mechanism that could determine the best balance between guaranteeing every citizen's freedom of expression and the need to tackle the complex nature of the country's multi-racial and multi-religious society.
“With this new Act, we will be better equipped to manage our national fault lines. It will also help to strengthen national cohesion by protecting national unity and nurturing religious harmony,” Najib said in his speech at a dinner with the Attorney-General's Chambers last night.
He said that without the ideal balance, freedom of speech would be stunted, the people's creativity and innovativeness would be dulled while at the same time unleashing chauvinism and extremism.
This balance, said Najib, must be achieved within a society that is more open, with access to the information highway which could trigger information overflow, higher level of education and socio-economic achievements and higher expectations.
