NGOs call for police to stop summoning activists

2026-03-13 - 07:34

Platform for Reform said the police’s use of ‘overly broad, subjective laws’ enable ‘selective enforcement against those challenging power’. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA: A coalition of NGOs has urged the government to immediately halt ongoing investigations and police summonses of activists, claiming that criminal laws are being used to silence dissent. Platform for Reform said the police calling up civil society leaders for questioning over public statements on government accountability “represent blatant weaponisation of the law to suppress legitimate criticism and public interest advocacy”. “Such harassment is incompatible with Malaysia’s reform commitments. Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, protected by international human rights standards. “Yet activists face police reports and lengthy interrogations simply for highlighting corruption, demanding transparency or criticising policy failures,” it said in a statement today. On Tuesday, Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) CEO Pushpan Murugiah was summoned by Bukit Aman for about 90 minutes of questioning in relation to a probe under Section 124B of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy. C4 said the lines of questioning “revealed some concerning issues regarding the police’s perspectives on freedom of speech and expression by political activists and commentators”. It said several others had also been summoned to Bukit Aman for the investigation, including political commentators and academics. Political commentator Syaza Shukri from International Islamic University Malaysia was also among those summoned, though she clarified that she was called in as a witness, not a suspect. Platform for Reform highlighted the police’s use of Sections 124B, 504 and 505(b) of the Penal Code, as well as Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, as “tools for this chilling effect” against reform. “These overly broad, subjective laws enable selective enforcement against those challenging power,” it said. Section 124B criminalises “activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy”, while Section 504 relates to “intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace” and Section 505(b) criminalises statements “with intent to cause or likely to cause fear or alarm to the public”. Section 233 of the CMA pertains to the “improper use of network facilities”.