Lim urges Malaysians to condemn Husam's detention

Harakahdaily,

Jun 24: DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang has come out strongly against yesterday's extension of remand on PAS vice president Husam Musa, saying "all right-thinking Malaysians" must condemn the arrest for its gross abuse of power.

Lim (right) said the arrest of Husam, who was nabbed on Saturday on his way to the Blackout 505 rally at Padang Merbok, was yet another proof that nothing had changed despite prime minister Najib Razak's 'transformation' slogan.

Husam was detained by police to investigate him under Section 4 of the Sedition Act 1948, believed to be in connection with a statement by him that those attending the gathering on Saturday were engaging in a jihad (holy war) and therefore can be considered martyred if they died in that cause.

But Lim said if Husam's words were considered seditious, so too were "the series of seditious statements" by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Malaysians are asking why the police have not even questioned, let alone remanded, former Prime Minister ... who had been guilty of making a series of seditious statements before, during and after the 13th General Elections, utterly reckless of the damage he was doing to inter-racial harmony with his racist lies and falsehoods," he said.

He also questioned why former Court of Appeal judge, Mohd Noor Abdullah - a supporter of UMNO's right-wing offshoot Perkasa - had not been questioned, despite his warning to Malaysian Chinese to prepare for a backlash from the Malays for snubbing Barisan Nasional in the recent elections.

"With Husam’s two-day remand, Malaysians are being told that the days of selective prosecution, discriminatory treatment and abuses of power by those in authority continues to be the order of the day," Lim added.

Earlier, PAS's legal and human rights committee questioned the need for police to extend Husam's remand since the case against him was straightforward.

Echoing this, Lim said the authorities had no reason to detain Husam and called for immediate release.

"Husam is not going to be a fugitive from the law, and the police authorities have no reason to believe that the PAS leader would not co-operate with the police with regard to the police investigations."