Legal Affairs Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong (centre) at Parliament March 19, 2019. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Putrajaya has advised the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) not to apply the Sedition Act 1948 pending its repeal, Datuk Liew Vui Keong said today.

During Ministers Question Time (MQT) today, the legal affairs minister also reaffirmed the government’s intention to eliminate the law.

He was responding to Fahmi Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai) who asked about the progress of the pledged abolition and whether police would refrain from applying the law until then.

“On principle, the government is indeed in the process of evaluating this Sedition Act, with the intention to abolish it,” Liew said.

He added that the police were told to avoid using the law as the government was in the process of reviewing the law with an eye on amending it first or abolishing it entirely.

He added that a related Bill is in preparation and will be finalised soon.

In January, Liew reportedly said the Bill for the abolition of the Act will be tabled as soon as the current meeting of Parliament.

He also said the government will introduce a law to replace the Sedition Act’s functions.

Pakatan Harapan pledged to repeal the colonial-era law in its election manifesto and its commitment to do so remains under watch.

It previously announced a moratorium on the application of the law but lifted this in December, claiming then that exceptional cases required letting the police enforce the Sedition Act in its current form.