After being charged under the Sedition Act, law professor Azmi Sharom jokes at a forum today about the perils of offering legal opinions.
Azmi had the crowd in stitches when he remarked, "Good afternoon everyone, I will try to stick to 10 minutes. I will try to stick merely to my legal opinion, but that can be dangerous nowadays."
On Tuesday, the Universiti Malaya lecturer was charged under the Sedition Act for his remarks on the Perak constitutional crisis, which were published in a news report.
Sharing his thoughts on legislation criminalising hate speech, Azmi said it would be pointless if there is selective prosecution.
"That (laws against hate speech) sounds absolutely cool.
"I am all for it as long as we make sure that some types of hate speech are not considered more hateful than other types of hate speech.
"The law is one thing, but the unequal, unfair and unjust application of the law is a completely different thing altogether," he said.
"You can have the best law in the world, but if it is used against some people and not against other people, it is still a bad law," he added.
Azmi was speaking as a panellist at a session themed "Enhancing religious harmony and understanding – the way forward" and was referring to the three "Unity Bill" slated to replace the Sedition Act. -M'kini
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