KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s arrest cannot be compared to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s in 1998, said Rafizi Ramli.
The PKR deputy president told a Jelajah Madani ceramah in Seberang Jaya, Penang, last night, that those who likened the PAS leader’s arrest to Anwar’s when he was sacked from government 25 years ago were making a “crazy” comparison.
“Isn’t that crazy? Sanusi was merely arrested and taken to court… he wasn’t even placed in the lock-up. Anwar was arrested and put in the lock-up,” Rafizi said.
Sanusi was arrested at 3am yesterday and brought to a Selayang court to face two sedition charges the same morning.
Police Inspector-General Tan Sri Razarudin Husain has said Sanusi was arrested to ensure he would appear in court.
The caretaker Kedah menteri besar and Perikatan Nasional elections director was charged over a political speech he gave at a ceramah in Gombak recently. One charge is regarding comments which allegedly insulted the Selangor sultan over the appointment of the state's menteri besar, while the other is over the forming of the unity government.
The time of his arrest and the charges under the Sedition Act have brought flak against Anwar and the government from lawyers and civil liberty activists for heavy-handedness and for “using” a law Pakatan Harapan (PH) had promised to repeal.
Rafizi, however, said Sanusi’s charges were not merely for criticising the government, but he had belittled the royalty in the context of the federal constitution which protects their role as constitutional monarchs.
“If I had said the same things, PAS would be sending its members to the streets to protest,” said Rafizi.
He also pointed out that when PH was in the opposition, its leaders, including himself and activists who were arrested, had been taken in for criticising the government and its policies, but never for touching on royalty.
Rafizi said the youth who will be new voters in the coming state elections must recognise that Sanusi is “not a hero” but wants to be popular by using race, religion, and royalty issues.
Sanusi, 48, was charged in two Selayang sessions courts yesterday with inciting the public over his remarks on the appointment of the Selangor menteri besar and the establishment of the unity government in a political talk last week.
The caretaker Kedah menteri besar has pleaded not guilty to the charges. For both charges, he is alleged to have committed acts that had a seditious tendency by uttering words that have a tendency to raise discontent or disaffection among the subjects of a rule. – The Vibes, July 19, 2023
