We are living human beings, no one person "owns" us, we have the international right to speak and create freely in THIS world and on this planet!
Rob Eilbacher from Columbia University's Global Freedom of Expression initiative reports the following news:
Given the ruling party’s overwhelming control, it’s unlikely that a dissenter like Zunar will receive a fair trial. However, if Zunar were to receive more press and other support, his case might become a victory for free expression. In fact, in February, 2016, the Attorney General dropped the sedition case against Professor Azmi Sharom in the interests of justice, so the pendulum might be swinging back in the right direction.
Charged with nine counts of sedition, Zunar, Malaysia’s famous political cartoonist, once vowed, “How can I be neutral, even my pen has a stand.” Zunar, the pen name of Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, is facing 43 years of imprisonment for nine tweets that criticized the government’s prosecution of a prominent opposition leader. The first count carries a maximum sentence of three years, and the remaining eight carry a maximum of five years. Hence, Zunar is facing up to 43 years of imprisonment for the nine tweets.
Despite the danger of speaking out in a repressive regime, Zunar has been a tireless political activist. Much of his art is used “to fight through cartoon,” and he has been a thorn in the government’s side for many years. His cartoons lampoon the improprieties of the party that has ruled Malaysia for over fifty years, albeit under two different party names. Previously, the government responded by raiding Zunar’s offices, confiscating and banning his publications, and detaining him without charges. However, over the past two years, the ruling party stepped up its efforts to quell dissenters by arresting them for violating the Sedition Act of 1948, a relic of British Colonial rule.
According to Amnesty International, Malaysia’s Sedition Act is used by the government to arbitrarily arrest opposition leaders, human rights defenders, and journalists. They estimate that in 2015, “at least 91 people were arrested, charged or investigated for sedition – almost five times as many as during the law’s first 50 years of existence.” Specifically, the Sedition Act of 1948 makes it a crime to utter, publish, or possess anything that has a tendency to, “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against any Ruler or against any Government” or “excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Malaysia. . . .”
Although Zunar was charged under the Sedition Act of 1948, Malaysia’s Parliament amended the Act in April, 2015 to harshen the penalties for sedition. Now, the first violation of the Act carries a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of seven years. The amended version also expands the Act’s coverage to include internet posts. On the bright side, the amendment narrowed the definition of sedition, and it no longer applies to exciting disaffection against the administration of justice. Still, the remaining provisions are so broad, that almost any criticism of the government is actionable.
Even the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, commented on the 2015 Sedition Act Amendment by saying, “It is very disappointing that the Malaysian Government is now proposing to make a bad law worse. . . . the Sedition Act has been applied in many instances to curb the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression.” Human Rights Watch also decried the revamped Sedition Act calling it, “a human rights disaster for Malaysia that will have a profound chilling effect on freedom of expression.”
Ironically, the Malaysian Constitution provides that every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression. However, it also allows Parliament to enact, “such restrictions as it deems necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of the Federation.” This apparent contradiction has caused the Sedition Act to be challenged as unconstitutional. One argument is that the Sedition Act pre-dates and was superseded by Malaysia’s Constitution. However, Malaysia’s apex Federal Court affirmed the Act’s constitutionality in October, 2015. The constitutional challenge was filed by Professor Azmi Sharom, who was being prosecuted for sedition because of comments he made during an interview with an online newspaper. In Zunar’s case, there is also a constitutional challenge because the Act doesn’t take into account a defendant’s intent to be seditious. This is similar to the logic that prevailed in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Elonis where the Court ruled that speech that appears threatening is protected unless the government can prove a defendant intended to communicate a threat.
The judges who recently upheld Malaysia’s Sedition Act are technically independent from the government’s executive branch, but judicial appointments are based on the Prime Minister’s recommendation. With such apparent conflicts of interest, the Malaysian leadership has provided continuous fodder for biting political commentary. For instance, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 that Prime Minister Najib Razak received a $681 million transfer into his personal account from the Saudi Royal Family. Initially, the Prime Minister called the transfer a gift, but now it’s being labeled a political contribution. In contrast, the Saudi government said that political contributions are never transferred to personal accounts, although they didn’t explain why the wire was circuitously routed through the British Isles and Hong Kong. Nevertheless, Malaysia’s Attorney General cleared the Prime Minister of any wrongdoing at the beginning 2016. The scandal prompted the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, to openly criticize the Prime Minister and the Attorney General. True to form, the government is now investigating the former Prime Minister for criminal defamation.
To see Zunar’s cartoons or to provide your support, please visit his website or #kartunzunar. Also, please consider signing Amnesty International’s online petition HERE to have Zunar’s charges dropped.
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KYRIAKI