The latest in the series of arrests of activists, politicians and now the media are a sign of things ‘going from bad to worse’, an Umno man has said.

Saifuddin Abdullah

Former Umno supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah told The Rocket that the arrests of four editors and a publisher of news portal The Malaysian Insider is “not right.”

“With the arrests of the five, we are now entering a new realm altogether which is the matter of freedom of the press. In this matter, the press is simply reporting based on whatever sources are available. If one is offended or disagree with their reporting, one can always rebut, or to some extent, sue,” Saifuddin said.

Saifuddin, who was editor of Panji Masyarakat in 1985, as well as a regular columnist for three papers including The Edge Malaysia (sister publication to TMI), said the use of a draconian law like the Sedition Act is a problem.

“Even if you must use a bad law, there is always ethics to follow. We must respect the freedom of press, why arrest them when they were willing and show every sign of cooperating with them?” Saifuddin said.

At 5.45pm yesterday about a dozen officers raided the news portal’s office in Petaling Jaya, arrested three senior editors and seized their equipment for alleged offences under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and the Section 233 MCMC Act.

The three are managing editor Lionel Morais, Bahasa Malaysia editors Amin Shah Iskandar and Zulkifli Sulong.

Their arrests were followed by two more arrests this morning, with police arresting chief executive Jahabar Sadiq and publisher Ho Kay Tat when they arrived at the Dang Wangi police station to give their statements.

The magistrate has however, denied the remand application for the first three.