Journey to freedom of expression derailed

EVEN if your interest in politics and human rights is at the lowest level, you would have heard of someone being detained or sanctioned by the government for voicing their opinions whether it is via a protest, public speech, Facebook post or, as we witnessed last week, a school play.

The reason it is so easy for the Malaysian authorities to monitor our expressions is because free speech is highly restricted in our country. In fact, free speech should be renamed “speech under probation”. There are many laws regulating our supposed freedom of speech, including the Official Secrets Act, Public Order Ordinance Act, the Printing Presses and Publication Act and, of course, the Sedition Act.