Kuala Lumpur: The government has no plans to enact laws dealing specifically with race, religion and royalty, otherwise known as 3R issues, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy home minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said Putrajaya was of the view that the existing laws were sufficient to handle 3R-related offences.
“There are no plans to enact a specific law.”
He was responding to Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Bharu), who asked if the government had such plans, arguing that punishment could not be meted out if there were no laws.
In July, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said the government was looking to review the relevant laws to better handle issues related to 3R offences.
She said while there were already laws in place to handle such cases, some of these laws were enacted seven decades ago.
The laws in question include the Sedition Act 1948, Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, Election Offences Act 1954 and the Penal Code.
On a related matter, Shamsul said that of 104 3R cases, 44 were still being investigated, while the police had completed the remaining 60.
He said between 2010 and September 2023, some 960 cases were investigated under the Sedition Act.
Of these, 19 were charged in court.
“This shows that the government has been transparent and does not take action (under this law) indiscriminately.”
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