KAJANG, Aug 30 — Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman today was found guilty of sedition over his remarks in a 2014 article labelling the ethnic Chinese as “intruders” in Malaysia.
“The defence has failed to provide reasonable doubts. OKT is found guilty and convicted under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act,” Sessions Court Judge Noridah Adam said in the courtroom here.
Abdullah Zaik’s lawyer, Salim Bashir, later pleaded on his client’s behalf by saying that this was his first conviction and that he has a family.
Noridah later told the Isma president to pay a RM2,000 fine for his conviction.
The conviction under the alternative sedition charge carries a punishment of up to three years’ jail or a fine of maximum RM5,000 or both.
The Isma president told reporters he accepted the court decision when met after paying his fine.
“Alhamudillah, we accept it. I accept it,” he said in Malay when asked to comment on the ruling.
But Abdullah Zaik’s lawyer later told Malay Mail Online that his client might have misunderstood the question, adding they will be discussing whether or not to appeal the conviction.
Earlier May this year, he was acquitted of his first sedition charge under Section 4(1)(b) of the same act for uttering the allegedly seditious remarks but was ordered to enter his defence for the alternative sedition charge.
Under the alternative charge of Section 4(1)(c), Abdullah Zaik was accused of publishing the article titled “The coming of the Chinese with the British colonialists a form of intrusion” on Isma’s website between 3pm and 3.30pm at Isma’s Bandar Baru Bangi headquarters on May 6, 2014.
He allegedly said that the Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese community were “intruders”, and that they were brought into the country by British colonialists to oppress the Malays.
