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Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Sedition Act kills rationality and intellect

The PM should declare a moratorium on the use of the Sedition Act until it is repealed and replaced.
COMMENT
By Hafidz Baharom
akta hasutan 1948First and foremost, I would like to make it known why I’m calling for the repeal of this act.
It is not because I support PKR. Honestly I think their leaders should have been charged for threatening national harmony. However they should have been charged under the Penal Code, not the Sedition Act.
I am asking for the repeal of the Sedition Act only because I find it very worrying that the government is using it to arrest educators and journalists as well.
I have a passion for defending the Fourth Estate because I was once a part of that collective. Granted, there are media outlets that fidget to find proper angles to attract readers, but in the end the message in the stories published come entirely from who they interviewed.
As such, I don’t believe any journalist deserves to be put behind bars for that  reason or any other reason, as long as it is a news story, not an opinion column.
Similarly, I do not hold Malaysiakini responsible for its readers’ comments which got them a lawsuit from our Prime Minister.
Republication of comments in the form of an opinion piece is necessary because it reflects the thoughts of society that is unmoderated. If you do want to moderate, then you must work towards moderating your own comments.
Similarly with the case of Azmi Sharom.
His published pieces (and I hope more will continue to be published after this), represent the opinion of a learned lecturer with a passion for educating not just his students, but the Malaysian public in general. He has a definite talent and is articulate.
How can it be seditious to offer an academic opinion? I don’t know. But I do know that if the authorities dig up what I’ve written in the past, they would probably start investigating me too.
I do not believe there should be any limits to education when it comes to generating intellectual discourse and study. We all know that knowledge is about challenging boundaries. Historically even, we know that the Islamic Renaissance period happened because there were scientists who dared to challenge boundaries.
Are we going back to the age where Galileo was placed under house arrest for saying the earth orbited the sun?
We should be forming a society where everything is discussed rationally, factually and intellectually. Instead, Azmi Sharom is charged under the Sedition Act. As such, I, Ahmad Hafidz Bin Baharom Alam Shah from Shah Alam, independently and without political favour, call on my Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak to push forward the repeal of the Sedition Act.
In the mean time, I would also like to ask the Prime Minister to openly declare  a moratorium on the use of the Sedition Act until it is repealed and replaced.

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