I was reading the newspaper yesterday and came across an article that caught my attention. The headline read "Najib: Absolute freedom can lead to chaos" (
click here for the said article). The issue of freedom of speech or freedom of expression has been on the tongues of Malaysians for some time now, spurred on by the recent sedition charges brought against prominent Malaysians like Theresa Kok and the late Karpal Singh. One does not need to look far back to find the invocation of this Sedition Act 1948 on the likes, for example, Marina Yusoff, Chua Tian Chang, and Mohd Tamrin Abdul Ghafar, among the many. Even the then Deputy Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in 2003, threatened to charge those who opposed the change in educational policy emphasising the teaching of science and maths in English with sedition. This brings to question, where then lies our freedom to express our opinions and thoughts? Where is our rights to freedom of speech?
