DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh has asked if police will investigate Attorney-General Tommy Thomas under the Sedition Act as part of its probe into a recent forum on the Rome Statute.

The Bukit Gelugor MP said it was regrettable that police opened a sedition probe into the forum on Saturday, which the A-G attended as a speaker.

Thomas shared his views on the Rome Statute with other experts, such as constitutional law scholar Shad Saleem Faruqi.

“Those who participated in the said forum were obviously there to debate the issue in a matured and rational manner and could not have had any intention to disrupt the peace in any way.

“Will (Inspector-General of Police) Mohammad Fuzi Harun be hauling up the A-G for questioning with a view to charging him under the Sedition Act, 1948?“ he said in a statement.

Earlier, Fuzi was quoted as saying that several individuals involved in the forum would be called to have their statements recorded.

Also among the speakers at the event were former ambassador and G25 group of Muslim moderates Noor Farida Ariffin, former student activist Asheeq Ali Sethi Alavi and lawyer Lim Wei Jiat.

Panellists at the forum were critical over the interference of certain royals in Putrajaya’s ascension to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. 

The government later said it would withdraw its ascesion, citing fears it would be used as a reason to topple the nascent Paktan Harapan government.

Ramkarpal, who is DAP’s national legal bureau chairman, said the government should be encouraging debates and free speech instead of instilling fear by threatening the use of the Sedition Act on those who support or criticise the Rome Statute.

He said this was one of the instances which shows how the Sedition Act can be abused.

This was why its repeal was one of the promises of the PH government before GE14, he said.

“Free speech is one of the most important of basic rights in any society, and the continued use of the Sedition Act is a blatant disregard of that right, more so in a situation in which a healthy debate was held with reference to various sound sources of information such as the Federal Constitution and case laws.

“I cannot see how any of the participants of the said forum has committed any offence. If they have, then students in university may also suffer the same fate for studying and debating the said statute if they touch on issues deemed sensitive by some. – April 29, 2019.