TUN ABDUL HAMID MOHAMAD
Former Chief Justice of Malaysia
RESPONSE TO ALL MY CRITICS
RESPONSE TO ALL MY CRITICS
By
Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad
The National Unity Convention organized by Malay/Muslim NGOs led by Perkasa was held on 23 November 2014. Tun Dr. Mahathir was supposed to deliver the keynote address and I would follow with a special address. If speaking at that conference would make me a racist and an extremist, so would Tun Dr. Mahathir be.
As it turned out to be, Tun Dr. Mahathir was not well on that day, so he could not attend. His speech was read by a former BN Minister.
So, my speech was the focus of the day. It is available on my website. It was a 3,558-word speech, yet one sentence was highlighted by the reporters, attracted the attention and vociferous comments of my critics:
The problem is, the Malays are facing the threat of becoming Red Indians in their own country.
This is a reminder to the Malays. Why is it so objectionable to non-Malays, especially the Chinese? Do they not want me to remind the Malays? Are they afraid that the Malays would realise the dangers facing them?
However, that speech had a very strong impact on UMNO General Assembly held four days later. One the day after I spoke, Dato’ Sri Sharizat, the wanita chief, in her speech to UMNO’s women’s wing openly opposed the repeal of the Sedition Act. The next day, Tan Sri Muhyiddin, the Vice-President of UMNO and the youth wing followed. The following day, Najib held a press conference saying that the Sedition Act would not be repealed.
On 4 December 2014, Dato Seri Azman Ujang, the former editor-in-chief of Bernama wrote in The Sun under the title, “Najib’s Close Call over Sedition Act”.
“The opposition within UMNO to Dato Seri Najib Razak’s pledge to repeal the sedition act 1948 was a “time bomb” that would have exploded at the party’s general assembly last week had the prime minister not diffused it in the nick of time….
Something happened on Nov 23, just four days before Najib’s opening speech at the assembly……
On that day, former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad said the proposed abolition of the act was a mistake.
Speaking at a convention on national unity, Hamid reminded the nation that while the Act was put in place by the British to deal with opposition to the colonial rule, it also outlaws acts of instigating inter-racial hatred and disloyalty to the Malay rulers…..
And he said that not everything in the Act came from the British.
Then came the clincher in Najib’s “change of heart” over his previous adamant stand to proceed with repealing the Act. This was his intention as recent as Sept 5.
Hamid revealed that the most important amendment to the Act was made following May 13, 1969 by the then prime minister Tun Abdul Razak, Najib’s father.
He said Section 3(1)(f) was added to prevent a recurrence of May 13 tragedy. This amendment makes it an offence to question the rights of citizenship, the position of the Malay rulers, the status of Malay as the national language, and the allocation of special quotas and permits to Malays and the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
“To me, the creation of Section 3(1)(f) in the Sedition Act is ultimate success of Malay politics and of Tun Abdul Razak,” he said.
In his speech at the assembly, Najib announced that the Act would be retained to the thunderous applause of delegates in some of the most rapturous scenes at Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre.
“After listening to opinions and suggestions from the UMNO leadership, party wing leaders, grassroots and non-governmental organisations, I have as the prime minister, come to a decision that the Sedition Act 1948 has to be retained,” said Najib.”
On the following day, after handing over of the memorandum to Najib at PWTC, I bumped into Sharizat. (I was on wheelchair). She screamed, “Tun, I feel like hugging you. Wherever I go people say, ‘Revert to Tun Hamid’s article. Revert to Tun Hamid’s article.'”
At a lunch given to NGOs at his residence to which I was invited, one or two weeks later, in his short speech, Muhyiddin said, “I was inspired by Tun Hamid. In fact, I quoted him in his speech.”
I am sure my critics were frustrated. Najib had promised to repeal the Sedition Act but made a U-turn! Do you think they would forget me?
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