CORPORATIONS LAW
1
Case: P.P. V PARAM CUMARASWAMY (1986)
Facts of the case:
Dato Param Cumaraswamy, in the year of 1986, was charged with sedition for a
statement he made in a press, conference being the vice president of the Malaysian Bar
Association and the chairman of its Human Rights Committee, by calling upon the Pardons
Board of Kuala Lumpur for considering the petition for commuting a death sentence imposed on
a laborer. The accused in the case was Sim Kie Chon who was convicted of the offence of
possessing a gun illegally. Though the offence involves a mandatory death sentence but he
possessed it innocently. On the other hand, former minister Mokhtar Hashim was found guilty
for discharging an arm and killing another. He was tried under various statutory provisions as he
had license for his arm. He was sentenced to death. However, the sentence was commuted.
In the two above mentioned cases, it is seen that there was discrimination between the
poor and the rich by the Pardons Board. Dato made many statements upon the Board to
recommend to the King that the accused’s death sentence must be commuted to life
imprisonment as was done in the case of Mokhtar.
Legal issues:
In the instant case, the legal issue was that whether Param Cumaraswamy was guilty of
sedition under section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948.

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