KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Razak has begun using a relic in legislation to bring sedition charges on a young student, Opposition figures and other activists. Four people have been charged under a sedition law enacted in 1948 by the British, Malaya's colonial masters until Independence in 1957. Najib himself had promised to repeal that Sedition Act in the year before the May 5 poll, the results of which are now plagued by allegations of widespread electoral fraud that many Malaysians, ordinary and learned, now hold to be true. The Opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, Bersih, and its international wing, Global Bersih, have stood together to withhold recognition of the recently returned Barisan Nasional government. Nine rallies protesting against the alleged rigged result have been held in several Malaysian towns and tens of thousands have attended each occasion despite police declaring all the gatherings illegal under the Peaceful Assembly Act. In spite of the ongoing crackdown, police intimidation of peaceful crowds and KL City Police Chief Mohamed Salleh saying "we cannot tolerate" candle-light vigils, Malaysians continue to defiantly protest against the results of a tainted election. Najib and Umno's great fear is that allowing the rallies to continue will empower more and more Malaysians and unite the masses behind increasingly strident calls to reject the result of the 13th general election. BN
