Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to briefly refer to a new report from Amnesty International highlighting the extent of the crackdown on freedom of expression currently taking place in Malaysia. The report—entitled Critical Repressionshows how the use of the Sedition Act in Malaysia has risen sharply since the Malaysian government won the 2013 general election. Between 2009 and 2012, there were around 30 charges under the Sedition Act. Since the 2013 election, however, there have been 176 sedition cases involving various individuals, usually for comments or acts deemed critical of the government. In 2015 alone, there were at least 91 instances of the Sedition Act being used to arrest, investigate or charge individuals, sometimes more than once. That is nearly five times as many as during the first 50 years of the act's existence.

Amnesty's report contends that freedom of expression is under attack in Malaysia, with civil society, activists, academics, opposition politicians, journalists and even cartoonists such as Zunar being targeted. Zunar's case is worth briefly highlighting. He is facing a record nine counts of sedition, one for each tweet he made following a Federal Court ruling on 10 February 2015 which upheld the conviction and prison sentence of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. That case is widely seen by human rights groups as politically motivated and Amnesty International considers Anwar Ibrahim to be a prisoner of conscience. Amnesty International is calling on the Malaysian government to repeal the Sedition Act, ensure that all convictions under the act are quashed, and unconditionally release all those who are imprisoned or detained under the act. I urge the Australian government and parliamentary colleagues to acquaint themselves with this important Amnesty report.