“Sounds nice to the audience but the reality tells a different story,” Tawfik said.
His comment comes after several PH members and activists were freed of sedition charges for criticising government bodies, following the prosecution’s withdrawal of the charges.
Tawfik welcomed the “wise” move by the prosecutors to discontinue the cases against the politicians and activists, but said the pledge to abolish the act remained mere “political talk”.
He said one of the arguments against sedition laws was that they could be used “to protect those in charge”.
He added that he had been a target of a sedition probe two years ago for being critical of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim).
“Government agencies should not be immune from criticism. Jakim thinks it is above the law,” Tawfik said, adding that Jakim should be closed.
Among those recently freed of sedition charges were cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, better known as Zunar, PKR lawyer N Surendran, Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister R Sivarasa, and PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim.
Meanwhile, political analyst Kamarul Zaman Yusoff said PH should keep its word as it had promised to do away with the act.
“What matters is that the promise to abolish the act must be fulfilled,” he said, adding that there were other laws to use against individuals who tried to provoke a breach of peace.
Civil society groups have urged the government to reveal when it will repeal the Sedition Act.
They are wary that the PH government might do a U-turn, as was done by the former Barisan Nasional government which initially promised to abolish the law but later strengthened it with higher fines and jail sentences.