LAW245 – Malaysian Legal System

Malaysian citizens are free to express their opinions and rights as long as they do not
against the law enacted under Artice 10(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution. Freedom of
speech is written under Article 10(1)(a) which clearly states that every Malaysian has the
freedom to speak and express their opinion (Syahredzan Johan 2020). However, according
to the Law, Parliament can enact legislation based on Article 10 (2) (a) to restrict this
freedom if it concerns matters that include domestic security, moral principles, public order
and international relations. This means that people can give their own opinion as long as
their opinion is not something that can be considered as a sensitivity issue toward the
government. Hence, there is no definition of freedom of speech in the Constitution, in fact
any form of expression or medium including dresses, action, painting, mural and so on can
be considered as speaking. As long as something comes out orally or in writing it is
considered as speaking and voicing. In addition, there is no specific way for speaking,
causing people to 'speak out' through social media or other media. In Malaysia, as a multi-
racial country, we have various races and religions. Because of that, we have limited
freedom of speech in order to not cross the line when it comes to the sensitivity of other
races and religions. For instance, as what happened 51 years ago on 13th May 1969 where
there was a fight between Chinese and Malays, this event had made the constitution limit the
freedom of speech when it comes to sensitivity issues.

In this era of globalization, with an increasingly advanced and sophisticated technology

the news and any information are spreading rapidly especially through the social media such
as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on.  In order for citizens to gain the rights of freedom
of speech, most of them tend to speak for their rights through social media. In Malaysia, the
Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) are the most
generally used laws against the critical voices. In the past, there were the citizens who
started to talk about their opinion and criticism on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)
by Datuk Seri Najib.  But instead, the Malaysian authorities respond to public comments as
criminal acts and will be prosecuted for daring to criticize the administration of Prime Minister
Najib Razak and make a comment on the government's handling of the big corruption
scandal involving government-owned investment funds, 1Malaysia Development Berhad
(1MDB). The prolonged problems of the 1MDB corruption scandal also has triggered
reactions from politicians, civil society activists and political commentators who called on
Prime Minister Najib to resign. However, this is not seen as a normal democratic country,
instead, the Malaysian authorities consider the expression of public comment as a criminal
act, thus acting to investigate the individuals involved on charges of sedition, committing
activities that affect parliamentary democracy and violating the Communications Act and
Multimedia. In my opinion, the Malaysian government should stop using criminal law against
the right to speak or freedom of speech peacefully as a crime in Malaysia, but alternatively
strive for national laws and policies to be in line with international human rights standards
and protecting freedom of speech especially through social media where the citizens can
give their opinions.
Should people be punished under the sedition Act 1948? Just because they try to voice
out their opinion? Before that, we have to know that the freedom of speech is under the
fundamental of liberties which is, the right of people to giving a speech are protected under
the law. But even thus, they are giving the right it doesn’t means that they can at will
condemn government members or even make baseless comment on cases that can cause
racial strife. Yes, people who are not following the ethics of giving speech or has a negative
intention toward the government they should be investigated and prosecuted of convicted of
his charges. Why? It is because, the effect of his words has tarnished the image of the
government and caused misunderstandings among citizen. For example, in 2014 the Kuala
Lumpur court sentenced former student leader Adam Adli Abdul Halim to 12 months in
prison because in his speech he asked to change the government which is established
according to the law, in not appropriate way. People also must not be prosecuted just
because they try voice out their opinion. It is because when someone using the proper way
and has a good intention to voice out their opinion, I believe that the contain she want to say
would not be insulting the minority and majority society in this country. What makes it
becomes an issue is, the way other people try to accepting the opinion the she made. Every
people have their own opinion, some may agree with our opinion but some may not agree
with it, and their own opinion also affected with the knowledge that they have. So as long as
the speech did not raise doubts and undermines the dignity of the government, the person
should be protected under the article 10. For example, Dr. Ilyani should not subject to
disciplinary action about the LGBT in Malaysia because she tries to give her own opinion
about the LGBT and the things that she talks also wrong in term of religions. So, it means,
everyone has their right in freedom of speech but not everyone knows how to do it in a
proper way and makes the court punished them.

 I agree that the freedom of speech in Malaysia has been severely tarnished and it
gradually has been eradicated due to the federal constitution.  It has made it seem like we
do not have the freedom of speech at all. According to the article 10(1)(a) it stated that
subject to clauses (2), (3) and (4) of every citizen in this country has the right to freedom of
speech and expression. But there is no further explanation of this scope or its constituent
parts. If we talk about the limit, it is actually easier to be understood as a restriction towards
the freedom of speech. Some example that we can see about the constitutional restriction is,
where in the form of art 10(2), it stated that the parliament may enact the statute to restrict
the freedom of speech when it is necessary or will give benefits to the constitution security or
in any part of it, about the diplomacy relation with other country, public morality and
restriction designed to protect the privileges of the parliament and any part of the Legislative
Council or to provide contempt for court,defamation or incitement of any offense. There are
many examples that can be picked out about people being arrested because they express
their thoughts. As an example, we can look back to the student named Adam Adli cases. He
was arrested because he was campaigning for the protection of student rights and academic
freedom. He was sentenced to a one-year prison in 19 September 2014 on charges of
sedition in connection with his speech. This is because in the 2013 general election, he
urged the public to protest the result of the general election. This case shows us that
freedom of speech is really limited in Malaysia. This makes the citizen realize that they
actually have many things to be said about. But thankfully, when our government changes,
both the citizens and media are allowed to express their opinion in public but in a right way.
Now, the media can publish whatever they want as long as it is not a sensitive issue being
included but it is still limited because if there is anything wrong with their post, they
immediately will be arrested or sued.

It is common to know that, in Malaysia freedom of expression is recognized as a human

right in Article 19 of the Declaration of Human Rights Universal. As we know fundamental
rights mean the rights that each additional individual possesses of our country that has
different types of religion and race. Therefore, the right to freedom of expression is
recognized in human rights is for everyone to gain opinions and be free to express their own
opinions and one of the protected fundamental rights is the freedom of every citizen to
speak, assemble and unified. Nevertheless, many communities still fail to observe the
impact that occurred when given free speech rights. This is said because these free speech
rights are misused in a handful of societies so that it gives rise to negative things from
disseminating things that aren't right yet given that society is now faster to believe in what's
disseminated without checking things that are spread right or not. A society that abuses the
right to freedom of expression is a society that is important for itself to want popularity so as
not to think of the sensitivity of other communities so that it can give rise to unity fractures as
the events occurred on 13 may 1969. Accordingly, Malaysia as a nation comprising of
various cultures, any uncontrolled speech can cause opinions to be spread everywhere so
that the situation can be chaotic. However, the Attorney General's Chambers has taken the
task of preventing tensions caused by the misuse of voicing rights so that the rights of other
citizens are uninterested and to strengthen the harmony of all citizens in our country.