Importance Of Freedom Of Expression In Malaysia

In 1787 our founding fathers assembled the constitution of the United States of America. Of this which contains the most important document to the American citizen, the Bill of rights. The first Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” These freedoms granted by the Bill of Rights are often known as freedom of expression. These rights are most important to a truly free society. The first amendment provides us with new ideas and dismisses the fear of punishment

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech”. Some people in today’s time would argue the first amendment is one of the most important listed in the Bill of Rights. Many forms of speech are protected by the first amendment that one wouldn’t think would be such as flag burning and “adult videos”. Over the years there have been many different court cases that have debated and fought the forms of speech that are protected.

American history is our hope for the future because it is important to the United States government to learn from past mistakes, and citizens need to understand the value that freedom provides to the american society. But most importantly Americans need to understand what the U.S. Constitution is and how it has affected America.

The first amendment of the United States Constitution protects citizens’ rights to; freedom of the press, peaceful assembly, religious freedom, the right to petition the government, and the right to free speech. The Constitution itself asserts:

How would you feel if you couldn’t ever have an opinion? You could never talk about how you felt about the government, you could never talk about natural disasters or the outside world? You can never protest the government, or even have an opinion on what they do. Well, this is the story of the lives of people in North Korea. This is how they live. They think that they live in a perfect little community with no problems, but that 's really the opposite. North Korea 's freedom of speech was taken away from them. The word can NEVER get around about their bad government or anything they do wrong; and even if you do tell someone something bad about the government you’d be killed. This is what would happen to our country if we continue to limit our basic speech freedoms. We should not limit our free speech except for online because people have the right to speak their thoughts, we do not want threats against us or our government online, and it’s unconstitutional.

People have the tendency to take the First Amendment for granted, but some tend to use it to their favor. Stanley Fish presents his main argument about how people misuse this amendment for all their conflicts involving from racial issues to current political affairs in his article, Free-Speech Follies. His article involves those who misinterpret the First Amendment as their own works or constantly use it as an excuse to express their attitudes and desires about a certain subject matter. He expresses his personal opinions against those who consistently use the First Amendment as a weapon to defend themselves from harm of criticism.

The antifederalists were a group of men who in general were ill educated compared to the federalists. Some of these people include back country farmers, poor farmers and illiterate debaters. They did not want a strong central government and believed in the Articles of Confederation. They thought the Bill of Rights were necessary to protect their rights. They feared without it, their rights would not be acknowledged. They felt that the Constitution only favored the wealthy men and their power.

¶1. The First Amendment is important because it protects the freedom to express ideas that many people do not like.

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.” Freedom of Speech helps those who need help and can ask the public without worry of getting in trouble. This amendment was included in the Constitution because now people e the right to advertise their work to others and have protests to things that they believe is right for the country. The amendments were important to the framers of the Constitution. The Freedom of Speech was important to the framers because of, “its diffusion of liberal sentiments on the administration of Governments.”

The First Amendment which prohibits the making of any law abridging the freedom of speech protects a citizen’s right, in limited circumstances, to speak out on matters of public concern. (Berman E 2013, pg. 63)

In 1777 the colonies of the time were functioning without any sort of federal government. The problem was fixed when the Articles of Confederation were put into action. The Articles of Confederation established a form a governance and placed limits on government authority; it also created a national citizenship which applied to qualified members. The weaknesses however outweighed the benefits, which is why the Articles were scrapped entirely and the constitution was conceived.

"At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas. Freedom to speak one 's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty, but essential to the quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. In the world of debate about public affairs many things done with motives that are less than admirable are nonetheless protected by the First

Freedom of speech is the right to express or communicate an individual’s ideas, views and opinions without any obstructions or fear of punishment. It is not limited to speech alone, and includes written and other forms of communication such as freedom of press which gives one the right to question, criticize and voice their opinions. Freedom of speech (or expression) is a fundamental human right which is also recognized by the constitution of India.

Malaysian has the right to freedom of speech which is guaranteed by Article 10 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The Article 10 allows all citizens the absolute freedom as not restricted by the government. In Malaysia, Law such as Publications act and printing presses give the Malaysian authorities the control over all the media. Any act that against this law may lead to fines or in much extreme cases, prison sentence. Although Malaysia has the right to freedom of speech, the media are still being controlled by the government which restrict them to publish anything against the government.

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), freedom of speech falls under the Article 19 which is the freedom of opinion and expression. It protects one’s freedom ‘to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers’ (The United Nations, 1948). Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) adds that the freedom of expression could be ‘either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice’.