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PETALING JAYA (May 6, 2008): The Bar Council today expressed shocked and disappointment today over the government's decision to charge Malaysia Today webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin with sedition.

Calling the Sedition Act 1948 an "archaic legislation which should be repealed", its president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said the Act was incompatible with Malaysian society.

"The Sedition Act is a draconian, archaic and repressive piece of legislation that has long outlived any perceived utility it may ever have had. It is incompatible with the progressive, open and democratic society that we had believed Malaysia was becoming," she said, adding that the use of such law was disconcerting and lends credence to the view that in fact the democratic space in Malaysia is still severely curtailed.

"The Sedition Act and other authoritarian laws represent a severe encroachment on the fundamental freedoms enshrined in our Constitution. These fundamental civil liberties are indisputable hallmarks of any democracy and must be safeguarded if Malaysia is to lay any claim to being a democratic nation."

She said the use of the Act was incompatible with the Home Ministry's recently-announced intention to loosen the annual licensing requirements for newspapers.

"The Bar Council had hoped that this signalled the first of many reforms that would herald a new era of openness and transparency."

She said the government should repeal the repressive legislation and focus instead on encouraging open discourse on issues of concern.

She said the council asked that the authorities immediately withdraw the charge against Raja Petra.

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