freedom of speech in malaysia

Existence of Freedom Of Speech In Malaysia

The freedom to act and say things freely is a sacred force that has been granted to Malaysians as a birth right. In Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution it guarantees citizens freedom of speech , assembly and association. However this right is not absolute. Article 10(2) and (4) of the Federal Constitution allows Parliament to impose limits to such acts. The act of freedom of speech is not solely limited to the ability of a person using verbal efforts to voice out something but also through said persons actions and such , for an example it gives a person a right to protest about issues they are not currently happy about. This is something that cannot be underrated as every great revolution in the world started with one person who felt strongly about something and made a decision to start a movement towards it.
In Malaysia there should be reinforcement towards this act as the community and people themselves should be allowed to come together and work towards a shared purpose and goal as our forefathers had done before. On a more communal level it gives the society and people a sense of belonging that their voices are heard and that their opinion matters just as much as the people that are in power, be it a wise or foolish decision, it helps to form a collective will and conform the situation and outcome towards what most people think it should be. On an individual level, Free speech serves the individual’s right to join the political fray, to stand up and be counted, to be an active player in the democracy, not a passive spectator
As for its existence in Malaysia, I would like to argue that it does exist, although in a very careful and restrictive way, it is nonetheless existent. The government of Malaysia have taken precaution to very carefully set the rules as to ensure that although the people reserve their right for freedom of speech it is however illegal to cause defamation or slander of another individual or party and can be prosecuted by law. A citizen is allowed to convey his or her dismay towards a certain subject as long as it is something that doesn’t directly or indirectly insult or mock a certain individual or race of people. As for those that are unhappy about certain issues that regards on a more individual level , there also exist a way for people to bring it to court if enough signatures fill up said petitions. This proves that we do have freedom of speech because of the ability to gather a group of people with the same dislike towards something and overturn it.
Moving on to the social media side of this, personally I feel that this is where most people exercise their right to freedom of speech the most. Its something that you can see everyday as people constantly doing things such as updating facebook statuses and twitter updates. Social media has been a huge boost to ensuring people have freedom of speech as it gives users a platform to broadcast out their thoughts and opinions and have other citizen comment and share their own experiences and opinions.
Malaysia does not full freedom of speech especially on sensitive subjects where race and religion come into the matter but it has the basics of a country which grants its citizens freedom of speech. We have never been stopped from posting up or saying something non-offensive and that right there is the biggest mark to indicate that Malaysia does have some sense of freedom of speech.