HUMAN Rights Day is to commemorate the United Nations General Assembly adopting the Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948.  

The significance of it cannot be overstated as the United Nation was formed shortly after the end of the World War 2 with the stated purpose of bringing peace to the world, and the UDHR is a framework to protect a person’s rights and freedoms in the face of an oppressive and overarching state.

Apart from celebrating human rights, the December date was also aptly set at the end of year to give people the opportunity to reflect on the state of human rights in their country that year. For Malaysia, the picture does not look rosy as the government continues to hold Malaysians’ freedom of expression with scant regard in 2020.

Since the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, the repressive Sedition Act has officially returned with a vengeance.

Its primary purpose is to stifle political dissent through arrest and tamp down political critics. This must be seen as an assault on freedom of expression in Malaysia.

Social activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri got the first taste of the medicine when she was investigated under the Sedition Act three days after the Muhyiddin Yassin government came to power. What Fadiah did, which was deemed seditious, was merely urging people through twitter to attend a political protest against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

As recorded by Suaram,, investigations under the Sedition Act almost doubled in 2020 as compared to 2019, a sign that does not speak well for the year 2021 in terms of freedom of expression

The PN government has at numerous occasions defended the use of the Sedition Act by insisting the law is needed to police offensive speech against race, religion and royalty. However, arrests for the purpose of investigations under the act suggests the government’s attempt to smother political debate and dissent.

There is also the flawed idea that speeches and expressions that touch sensitive issues should be prohibited to preserve peace and harmony. Rather, debates on sensitive issues and agreeing to disagree should be an intrinsic part of democracy, the lack of which denies the nation of the opportunity of having a consensual dialogue to tackle contentious issues.

Ever wonder why after 63 years of independence, Malaysia is still struggling with 3Rs with no political consensus on it in sight?  

Moreover, the boundaries of what is “seditious” are poorly defined and are often left to the discretion of the government. There is no guarantee that the law would be truly used to tackle hate speech – which is an important but altogether different subject – but looks increasingly abused by the PN government for political expediency. 

The deposed PH government must also share some blame for not repealing the Sedition Act.

There is no doubt that political prosecution largely subsided, and Malaysia had a more than usual freedom of expression in the 22 months under PH. But the failure to institutionalise such freedom by getting rid of the Sedition Act swiftly is a major error of omission.

As long as repressive laws, such as the Sedition Act, remain intact, freedom of speech in Malaysia is almost the sole discretion of the government.

The rampant rise of fake news continues to be a bane in society, especially in a pandemic year where accurate and precise information is important. The government’s standard of “false information” deserves much scrutiny and debate.

It appears that Section 233 of Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) has effectively replaced the abolished Anti-Fake News Act to police fake news as probes under the CMA almost tripled, according to the latest report by Suaram.

I need to stress that combating fake news is crucial to a healthy democracy, but I remain sceptical of the methods employed by the government as it relishes more in policing and being the sole gatekeeper of “the truth” rather than truly deterring fake news.

Take the example of the government’s flip-flopping standard operating procedures, such as the requirement of using MySejahtera application at petrol pumps. The statement of the police and the National Security Council contradicted each other at one point of time, and this is only one of the myriad communication blunders that this government has committed under the movement control order (MCO).

Since there are little details revealed about these “fake news” cases, it is difficult to ascertain whether the accused individual is innocuously sharing a “false” government directive or deliberately spreading fake news.

To date, Malaysia lacks a coherent “anti-fake-news” strategy and that vacuum has been exploited by the government to further restrict freedom of expression under the pretext of combating “fake-news”.

While there are many more human rights abuses that Malaysia needs to address, the freedom to express deserves our utmost attention as it is most sacrosanct to Malaysians and easily achievable so long as repressive laws, particularly the Sedition Act and section 233 of CMA, are either amended or repealed.

Also, it only requires a government that is prepared to accept criticism and satire in this modern era. The PN government would have performed substantially better in guaranteeing freedom of expression than its purportedly more progressive predecessor if it were bold enough to act accordingly on the Sedition Act and section 233 of CMA.

And that is my sincere wish for the year 2021 for the state of Malaysia’s freedom of expression. – December 13, 2020.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.