Malaysia’s highest court has rejected an opposition leader’s appeal against a sedition conviction and ordered him sent to jail.

Rights groups and opposition leaders quickly condemned the decision, calling it politically motivated.

The Federal Court upheld a lower court decision on 25 August to sentence Lim Guan Eng, deputy leader of the Democratic Action Party and chairman of its youth wing, to two concurrent 18-month prison terms, court officials said.

Lim was convicted last year for publishing in 1995 a pamphlet entitled "Ceramah Kisah Benar" (The True Story), which criticised the government’s handling of statutory rape allegations against a former state chief minister.

An appeal court later upheld the ruling and imposed a prison term.

"We find no reason to intervene in the position of the Court of Appeal in overturning the judgement or reducing the sentence," Judge Eusoff Chin said.

Local rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia condemned the decision. "Today [25 August] is a black day for justice and freedom of expression in Malaysia," group co-ordinator Elizabeth Wong said. "We still feel Lim’s case was politically motivated."

Syed Husin Ali, president of the opposition Parti Rakyat Malaysia (People’s Party of Malaysia), called the court’s decision unfair. "This was based on the Printing and Publishing Act, which, with the Internal Security Act, is one of the most draconian acts in the country," he said. "They can be used to the advantage of the government."

Earlier this year, London-based human rights group Amnesty International said the charges against Lim were "politically motivated, designed to intimidate dissenting voices and to limit debate on an issue of public concern."

The ruling by the three-judge panel meant that Lim would be forced to step down as a Member of Parliament, court officials said.

Under Malaysian law, an MP is disqualified if jailed for more than a year. The individual cannot run in the next general election, but can compete in subsequent elections if out of jail.

Lim’s lawyer had asked the Federal Court to relax the jail sentence so that his client would not be disqualified.

The jail sentence was a blow to the Democratic Action Party, which has only nine seats in the 192-seat lower house. Lim’s father, Lim Kit Siang, is the party’s secretary-general and parliamentary opposition leader.

(Source: Reuters, 25 August 1998.)