Sanusi Charged With Insulting Selangor Sultan
Sanusi Md Nor was said to have been arrested at 3am today.
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Caretaker Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Mohd Noor was charged with making seditious remarks against Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah at the Selayang Sessions Court.
He pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to him before Judge Nor Rajiah Mat Zin and Osman Affendi Mohd Salleh in two separate Sessions court today.
The charges were framed under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act which carries a maximum of three years’ jail or a RM5,000 fine or both, upon conviction.
Menteri Besar Kedah Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor selesai menghadapi pertuduhan di Mahkamah Sesyen 2.
— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) July 18, 2023
Muhammad Sanusi, juga Pengarah Pilihan Raya Perikatan Nasional, mengaku tidak bersalah selepas pertuduhan terhadapnya dibacakan di hadapan Hakim Nor Rajiah Mat Zin. pic.twitter.com/6CX85HeWhG
PAS’ Harakah Daily in a tweet alleged that Sanusi had been arrested at 3am prior to his court appearance this morning.
Sanusi’s arrest comes after the Selangor Royal Office issued a statement noting that one of Sanusi’s remarks in his ceramah was considered an insult to the Selangor royal institution.
According to the New Straits Times, he was charged with two counts of uttering seditious remarks that could incite disloyalty towards the Rulers.
On the first count, Sanusi was alleged to have made seditious and insulting remarks with regard to Sultan Sharafuddin near Taman Selayang Mutiara at about 11pm on 11 July.
On the other charge, he was alleged to have committed the same offence by uttering seditious remarks questioning Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree on the establishment of the unity government.
Sanusi is now out on bail. The courts set bail at RM5,000 for each charge and also imposed a gag order to prevent him from issuing any statements with regard to these cases.
So what did Sanusi say?
In one of his ceramah speeches, Sanusi reportedly made fun of Datuk Seri Amirudin Shaari’s appointment as the Selangor Menteri Besar.
He said the Sultan of Kedah, Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah would not have appointed a “cokia” (substandard) candidate.
Sanusi later issued an apology to the Selangor ruler over his statement after police reports were lodged against him.
He informed that he had sent a letter to the Selangor Sultan to apologise and to explain what he said in his speech.
He also claimed in a Facebook post that his speech had been manipulated by Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN).
Regardless, a police investigation was carried out against him over the issue under the Sedition Act 1948 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
State election
Sanusi is the incumbent Jeneri assemblyman in Kedah and also holds the post of Perikatan Nasional (PN) election director ahead of the six state elections that will take place 12 August.
Safe to assume that he is either set to defend Jeneri or be fielded in another state constituency. Earlier in June, he did however stress that the candidate for the post of Kedah MB for the next term would be determined by the PN leadership and not his sole right, or even that of Kedah PAS.
With two court charges looming over his head, it remains to be seen what Kedah PAS would do as they have yet to announce the candidates who will be contesting.
Nomination day for the six state elections is 29 July.
On the side of the law, an individual loses his eligibility to stand as a candidate if he or she has been found guilty by a court in the federation (or before Malaysia Day by a court in Sabah, Sarawak or Singapore) and sentenced to not less than a year in jail or fined not less than RM2,000.
However, should an appeal or petition for pardon be filed, then the loss of eligibility is put on hold until the conclusion of the appeal or petition for pardon.
Following his charge today, the courts set 4 October for case mention which means with the election about three weeks away, it is highly unlikely for Sanusi to lose his eligibility to stand as a candidate on 12 August.
READ MORE: Sanusi’s Apology To Selangor Sultan May Not Be Enough, Says Law Minister
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