KUALA LUMPUR – The arrest of Bersatu leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, over his involvement in the “Turun Anwar” rally has sparked outrage, with Malaysian Advancement Party president and veteran rights activist Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy condemning it as a blatant abuse of state power to silence dissent.
According to Waytha Moorthy, the act that led to Chegubard’s arrest—flogging an effigy of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim—may be considered distasteful by some, but it remains a symbolic and non‑violent form of political expression. “In a functioning democracy, such acts are met with debate, not detention,” he said, warning that the move sends a chilling message to the rakyat: criticise the Prime Minister, and expect the police at your doorstep.
The government’s decision to invoke the Sedition Act and Section 504 of the Penal Code against Chegubard, Waytha argued, exposes a dangerous double standard. These colonial‑era laws, once condemned by reformists like Anwar himself, are now being wielded by the same leadership to target its political critics. “This is not reform—it is regression,” he stressed. Waytha also questioned the timing and manner of the arrests. “If this administration truly respects the constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, why are protesters being hunted down days after the event? Why the resort to outdated, draconian laws?” he asked.
He echoed Amnesty International Malaysia’s call for all laws that criminalise peaceful expression to be repealed, emphasising that the police must serve the people, not political masters. “We were promised a Malaysia that was fair, transparent, and democratic. Instead, we are seeing fear replacing freedom, and power overtaking principle,” Waytha said. The Malaysian Advancement Party chief reminded the public that dissent is not a crime and that political criticism is not sedition. “A government’s commitment to democracy is measured by how it treats its critics, not its supporters,” he said, urging the Prime Minister to end what he described as political persecution and restore the rights and freedoms Malaysians were promised.
