Pressure is mounting on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to make true on his promise to scrap the Sedition Act.

Opposition politicians have accused Najib of using the decades-old law to silence government critics.

Leaders of the PKR party said they would go around the country to protest against the law following the arrests of nine MPs and University of Malaysia Professor Azmi Shahrom. 

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The authorities took into custody Azmi on sedition charges in connection with an article that he wrote about the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis. 

Azmi's arrest stemmed from his comments on the legal issues that the judiciary raised following the power grab by Najib's UMNO-BN coalition in 2008.

The PKR's planned nationwide anti-sedition tour would be reminiscent of the Black 505 rallies to protest electoral fraud after the 2013 Malaysian general polls.

MP Rafizi Ramli, the PKR's chief strategist, warned, "If the government doesn't want the huge demonstrations that we mobilized during the Black 505 days, then they should immediately cease all sedition action against the Opposition, the academia, and even (Muslim rights groups) Perkasa, Isma."

Another MP, Sivarasa Rasiah, said the ruling UMNO-BN was following in the footsteps of the country's former British colonizers, who passed the sedition law "to control and silence the Malaysian people."

Writing in the Malaysia Chronicle, MP Charles Santiago criticized the prime minister for apparently reneging on his promise to abolish the sedition law, "just to cling on to power."

He described the crackdown on dissenters as a "high-handed attempt to muzzle critical, alternative thinking," and warned that as long as the Sedition Act remained in place, human rights in Malaysia would continue to be under threat.

Santiago said it was not yet too late for Najib to reverse course and save his reputation by withdrawing all sedition charges and instead allowing democratic discussions between the government, opposition supporters, and human rights groups.

TagsMalaysia, Najib Razak, PKR, UMNO-BN, sedition law, Malaysia democracy, Malaysia parties