JUNE 20 — In the wake of our newfound civil freedoms, Malaysians have become bolder about speaking up. I think that’s great and important yet at the same time, I think filters are still needed.
You are free to speak, but pretending that freedom doesn’t come with consequences is unwise.
While it is important to do away with the Fake News Law as it was never about news, but about political agendas, we still need to make a distinction about what speech needs censure.
Hate speech needs to be properly defined and in a way that protects everyone who might become targets for it. Except for political parties. Feel free to say a party is dumb, obsolete or whatever you like — it shouldn’t be a crime to insult a political party.
It’s when you say batshit things such as “everyone who joins that party should be killed” then you deserve handcuffs and a good talking-to.
It’s going to take a long time for us to get it right, after years of being repressed politically and culturally — forever afraid of things that are too “sensitive.” We’re still testing the new boundaries and there is bound to be people who go too far.
The whole principle here is to prevent harm, to maintain fairness and promote justice -- to protect the liberty and well-being of our citizens.
We’re just too used to seeing laws used to protect a government and to keep certain people in power.
Hate speech promotes harm and is well-known as an inciter and precursor to violence so of course it needs to be called out.
Say what you like but be prepared to defend what you said, when called out by the authorities.
Still, the challenge is that we also need to deal with prevailing sentiments — quarters who feel threatened by even the most innocuous-seeming things (to other people). Then we have people who now think they have the right to decide whether the nearby convenience store should be allowed to sell alcohol.
This tug-of-war, this precarious balancing between local sentiments and the basic principles of freedom of expression is never going to end. We will have to deal with that, moving forward.
I’d still rather be where we are now than be locked in place, relying solely on the whim of those in power, without getting to utter a word of dissent without worrying about being arrested.
It’s going to be a messy next few years, but would we rather have it any other way? I hope not.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
