18-Month Sentence for Sedition Is Upheld : Top Opposition Figure Imprisoned in Malaysia 
International Herald Tribune
August 26, 1998
Thomas Fuller

Malaysia's highest court upheld on Tuesday the conviction of one of the country's most prominent opposition politicians on sedition charges, sending him to prison.

Lim Guan Eng, deputy secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party, the country's main opposition party, was taken in handcuffs to prison, where he is to serve 18 months for printing and distributing a political pamphlet.

He is the first sitting member of Parliament in Malaysia to be jailed. The court's decision removes Mr. Lim, a highly respected and articulate opposition figure, from the political scene at a time when analysts expect elections to be called soon.

Although his party is not expected to pose a serious challenge to the governing coalition led by the United Malays National Organization, which has been in power since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957, Mr. Lim has played a key role for the opposition in needling the government about its policies.

"The conviction is very unfair," said Syed Husin Ali, a government critic and president of Parti Rakyat of Malaysia. "It's a way of telling the public: 'Beware of what you say and what you talk about.' Even members of Parliament now cannot really raise issues — even if it is based on truth."

With the decision, Mr. Lim, 38, is banned from holding a seat in Parliament for five years from his date of release. That would effectively keep him from contesting the next two general elections in the country, which are held every five years.

Elections must be called before April 2000 but Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad has not ruled out a possibility of elections in a few months, before the country's economic crisis deepens.

Mr. Lim was convicted last year of criticizing in a pamphlet the government's decision not to press statutory rape charges against a former senior government official.

The pamphlet questioned why a schoolgirl involved in the scandal — she was 15 at the time — was detained in the case but not the official, who was then regarded as a protégé of Mr. Mahathir.

Judge Gopal Sri Ram, ruling on Mr. Lim's first appeal earlier this year, changed his sentence from a 15,000 ringgit fine ($3,600) to two concurrent 18-month prison terms.

"It is time that the court sends a clear message that it cannot tolerate any attack on the judiciary," the judge said in announcing the new sentence.

In the final appeal, the defense attorney, Karpal Singh, said Mr. Lim had "honorable intentions" in the case and called for an "outright acquittal."

"We find no good reason why we should interfere in the Court of Appeals' decision," said Eusoff Chin, the country's chief justice, in announcing the decision, which took an hour and a half to reach.

Surrounded by weeping family members, Mr. Lim said, "If this is the outcome of me helping someone, then I have nothing more to say."

Before being taken away by the police, he gave members of his family his wallet, car keys and suit coat, and faced the gallery.

"I will hold up the handcuffs that will be placed upon me not as a symbol of shame, but as a symbol of pride and honor," he told the spectators. "My political career may have terminated but my political struggle will go on."

Mark Daly, a representative of Amnesty International who attended the hearing, said he was "deeply shocked" by the decision.

"Amnesty International believes Lim Guan Eng today becomes a prisoner of conscience solely for expressing his opinion and fulfilling his duties as a member of Parliament," Mr. Daly said.

Mr. Lim said he became aware of the case when the grandmother of the girl came to him for help. She wanted to see her granddaughter, who was in police custody, but had been turned away.

Following a news conference the next day, during which Mr. Lim highlighted the case, the grandmother was given permission to visit her granddaughter.

"He has done nothing wrong," said the grandmother. "The innocent people are facing jail and the guilty are free."

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