Pakatan Harapan Plus (PH Plus) members of the caucus say the “partisan” statement was inappropriate due to Razali’s position in the caucus.

“Senator Razali has the right to speak as a member of the senate. However, we do not agree with his views this time. It is not appropriate for him to represent the caucus when the views expressed are controversial, and partisan,” the senators said in a statement today.

They added that his views were contrary to that of the caucus, which is a bipartisan platform established in 2020 to investigate issues related to the people’s well-being.

Commenting on the proposal, they said Razali seemed vulnerable to the sharp criticism of Malaysians on the government’s weakness in managing the Covid-19 pandemic to the point that he would deny the people their freedom of speech, contrary to the human rights provisions guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.

Razali had proposed the new law after comments were posted against Muhyiddin Yassin on an Indonesian website following his visit there last week.

He said the insults on social media had become a “mental illness”, calling for either a new law to be enacted or an amendment to be made to Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

The senators said Razali should also show more maturity and be more sensitive by not abusing the phrase “mental illness”, as there were many who fell into depression during the movement control order period.