Law245 - Malaysia Legal System-Example Ilac Answer
Law245 - Malaysia Legal System-Example Ilac Answer
Law245 - Malaysia Legal System-Example Ilac Answer
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.
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.