Kuala Lumpur: Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Muhyiddin Yassin was charged with sedition on Tuesday for a speech he made allegedly questioning the integrity of the country’s former king.
muhyiddinwho directed Malaysia From March 2020 to August 2021, he pleaded not guilty in a northeastern court Kelantan State. According to the prosecution, Muhyiddin made the seditious remarks last month during a by-election campaign in Kelantan.
Nine ethnic Malay state rulers take turns as kings of Malaysia for five-year terms under the country’s rotating monarchy, which began when Malaysia gained independence from Great Britain in 1957. The monarchy plays an eminently ceremonial role, but is revered by the country’s Muslim majority.
In his speech on August 14, Muhyiddin questioned why the then king Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah did not invite him to be prime minister after a hung parliament in November 2022. Muhyiddin had claimed he had the backing of majority lawmakers.
Muhyiddin’s Islamic nationalist bloc received stronger-than-expected support from Malays, who make up two-thirds of Malaysia’s 34 million people. Sultan Abdullah was then appointed leader of the opposition. Anwar Ibrahim As prime minister, Anwar enlisted the support of rival parties to form a unity government.
Sultan Abdullah from the center Pahang StateKing Muhyiddin, who ended his reign on Jan 30 this year, has not commented on the case, but his son has sharply criticised Muhyiddin, saying his comments were dangerous and could divide the people and undermine the royal institution.
Muhyiddin was questioned by police following the allegations against him. He had denied insulting the royals, saying his comments were true and that he had sworn to support 115 lawmakers out of the 222 members of parliament.
Zaid Malek of Lawyers for Freedom, a human rights and legal reform group, strongly criticised the use of the colonial-era Sedition Act against Muhyiddin. He said questioning or criticising the king’s exercise of constitutional power was not seditious.
The law, introduced by the British in 1948, criminalizes speech or actions with an undefined “seditious tendency,” including those that promote hatred against the government and monarchy or incite racial discord.
“The king is a constitutional monarch, not a feudal ruler. Therefore, the exercise of his power can be debated, questioned or criticised. This is the very basis of our system of constitutional monarchy,” Zaid said. Anwar had gone back on his promise to repeal the Sedition Act, which has long been used to suppress dissenting voices, he added.
Muhyiddin, 77, could face up to three years in prison or a fine, or both, if convicted. He is also still fighting corruption and money laundering charges that he says are politically motivated.
Muhyiddin was the second former leader to be charged with crimes after former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was hit with multiple charges after losing the 2018 general election. Najib began serving a 12-year prison term in 2022, with several more corruption trials underway.
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