Don’t suppress free speech

THE discovery of an improvised explosive device (IED) on the car of activist and lawyer Siti Kasim is appalling, deplorable, and should be denounced in no uncertain terms whatsoever.

Malaysians are angry, and they have every right to be. We hope justice will be swift.

Questions that should be answered include: Who put the IED on the car? When was it put there? What was the purpose of putting it there?

While waiting for answers, we can only be grateful that no one was hurt.

I do not agree with a great many things that Siti says and does, and I often feel that many of her methods and strategies are the opposite of what is needed to move Malaysia forward.

I often disagree with what she says, but I will defend her right to say it.

Regardless of differences of opinions, we must be unanimous in our complete and utter rejection of any and all violence.

I’m sure many of us think of Siti and Kedah Mentri Besar Sanusi Nor as polar opposites.

Obviously, this is true on many ideological levels.

I imagine that me even mentioning these two individuals in the same article is going to upset some people, what more the comparison I am going to make below. But I hope at least some will consider it food for thought.

In my mind, Siti and Sanusi have many similarities.

They are both firebrands and experts at firing up their bases. These two bases or groups think of themselves as sworn enemies because Group A thinks that they are everything Group B is not.

And yet, the similarities can be striking. Both feel victimised, both feel persecuted, both feel sidelined in their own country. And both are really angry about it.

For those of us who sit closer to the centre, there’s almost something funny (almost) about both sides feeling the same way. After all, they can’t both be right. That would be illogical.

The reason both sides feel exactly the same way is often because they are incited to doing so.

Of course, each side feels that only the other side is being incited (and 100% wrong), and their side is 100% correct.

This incitement is often done by firebrands. And people do love it when firebrands on the other side get their comeuppance.

I have stated earlier that I disagree with Siti on many fronts. To be frank, Sanusi espouses views that I find to be racist, hateful, divisive, and a lot of the time, downright nonsensical.

I disagree with what he says, but I will defend his right to say it.

Obviously there is a very, very big difference between having an IED planted on your car versus being arrested by the police. One should not equate them to being one and the same.

Perhaps, however, we can say that for the same reason that Siti should not be subject to such persecution, Sanusi too should be able to express his views, as long as they do not incite violence in any way.

As an aside, “inciting hatred” is a rather more subjective, slippery slope kind of phrase. I remember a good deal of criticisms I used to write in my columns or tweets could certainly have been argued by some to be “inciting hatred”.

I do confess I found the arrest of Sanusi, especially in such a heavy-handed manner at 3am in the morning, to be extremely perplexing.

I cannot for the life of me see how this benefits the government of the day in any way. It is instead more likely to push more votes towards Opposition bloc Perikatan Nasional.

After current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was arrested during the Reformasi days, the government of the day paid for it severely in the 1999 general elections – especially among Malay voters.

Malaysians do seem to enjoy voting for underdogs, as a way to punish what they see as unjustified, heavy-handed persecution.

Investigate Sanusi if you really must, take his statement, and so on. But to arrest him under the Sedition Act?

One would think enough Malaysian leaders in power today have been on the wrong end of the Sedition Act often enough to remember how problematic this Act and its usage is.

Even if you believe, as I do, that many of the views of these two individuals are misguided, no one in this country should be made to suffer so much just because of what they think and feel.

Nathaniel Tan is strategic communications consultant. He can be reached at [e-mail]. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.