Ex-judge: Dissent is feedback from citizens to govt

PETALING JAYA: A retired judge has come out in support of his former superior that Putrajaya should allow its citizens to express their views instead of using dubious laws to clamp down on dissent.

Gopal Sri Ram said former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah was entirely correct in the view he has expressed and the government should pay attention to his speech.

“They should take away some valuable lessons from it,” he told FMT.

He said freedom of speech, when responsibly exercised, was the surest way for the elected government to know where it was going wrong.

“As a matter of law, the elected officials are trustees of the power vested in them and must use that power for the good of the people,” he said.

Sri Ram said constructive criticism was part of a true democracy in the political sense and over-sensitivity to criticism was opposed to democratic principles.

“It leads to maladministration,” he added.

He said this in response to Dzaiddin’s view that freedom of expression and dissenting voices should not be stifled as that would be akin to suppression of legitimate voices, leading to zero checks and balances.

Dzaiddin, who made these remarks in his speech at the Wawasan Open University (WOU) convocation ceremony in Penang last week, also called on universities to champion freedom of expression.

The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), of which Dzaiddin is its special adviser, uploaded on its website the salient points of the speech.

Dzaiddin, who was chief justice from 2000 to 2003, said citizens must be free to point out abuses, corruption, injustices and any unhealthy happenings and to hold leaders accountable.

But he also said freedom of speech must not be allowed to promote hate and division.

Sri Ram, who retired as Federal Court judge in 2010, said among the legislation that needed to be reviwed were the Sedition Act and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act (MCMC).

He said the Sedition Ordinance 1948 was not a law passed by Parliament, which only came into existence in 1959.

“Yet, by some act of intellectual gymnastics, the Federal Court metamorphosed it into a valid restriction,” he said.

He said Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act (MCMC Act) on improper use of network facilities or network service was wide and had sweeping powers.

“It is a well-settled principle of constitutional law that there must be a rational nexus between a law and the object it seeks to achieve.

“If this is lacking, then the law becomes untrammelled and therefore bad under article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

Those found guilty under this Section 233 can be fined up to RM50,000 or sentenced to a year’s jail or both.

Over the last six months, there were at least two cases of individuals who were fined after they pleaded guilty to insulting Prime Minister Najib Razak on Facebook. -FMT