DAP will launch a nation-wide "Back  Karpal, Uphold Rule of Law" campaign to mobilise  support among Malaysians to close the widening gap between law and justice in Malaysia


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
 

(Petaling Jaya,  Saturday): The recent  Barisan Nasional crackdown, involving the arrest and prosecution of DAP Deputy Chairman and former five-term MP for Jelutong Karpal Singh, Parti Keadilan Nasional  Vice President Marina Yusoff, KeADILan Youth chief Mohamed  Ezam Mohd Noor, Harakah editor  Zulkifly Sulong and Harakah printer Cheah Lim Thye mark a massive assault on the rule of law,  press freedom, the right to information, fundamental liberties and democracy

More and more, Malaysia has become the object of condemnation of international civil society.

The latest to denounce Malaysia’s crackdown on fundamental liberties is Amnesty International which condemned the Malaysian government for using "selective prosecution" to silence outspoken critics  and opposition leaders.

Amnesty International said it had  long believed that the continued existence of an array of restrictive laws in Malaysia, many unable to be challenged in court, poses a grave threat  to fundamental rights of freedom.

It said: "The organisation fears that the safeguards designed to prevent the authorities from using such laws to initiate selective prosecution for political purposes have been fundamentally weakened."
 
Of the recent  spate of arrests, Amnesty said government and opposition figures had made public statements that could be interpreted as potentially seditious but only  opposition members had been charged.

"Charging political leaders and journalists with sedition threatens to strike at the heart  of free speech in a democratic society," it said in a statement from London.

"When such prosecution appear to fall solely on opposition figures, public confidence  in the rule of law risks being seriously undermined."

The counter-strategy against the Barisan Nasional’s latest crackdown on the rule of law, press freedoms, the right to information, fundamental liberties and democracy must be multi-pronged, involving:
 

DAP will launch a nation-wide "Back  Karpal, Uphold Rule of Law" campaign to mobilise  support among Malaysians to close the widening gap between law and justice in Malaysia.

The DAP will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss the details of such a campaign.

(15/1/2000)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman