Freedom Of Speech

Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one’s opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment. “Speech” is not limited to public speaking and is generally taken to include other forms of expression. The right is preserved in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is granted formal recognition by the laws of most nations. In Malaysia, the provisions regarding freedom of speech is also provided in Article 10 of Federal Constitution, Clause (1) (a), which states that every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression. However, there are also restrictions provided in the same Article which is stated in Clause (2) (a) which was designed to protect the privileges of Parliament

It is because freedom of speech is essential to maintain democratic society. According to Thomas Jefferson, which is well-known as Father of American Democracy, he will choose 'media without a government ' rather than 'a government without media’. That is, he realized democratic society cannot exist without freedom of speech. Thus, he strongly assert that the freedom of speech cannot be restricted in any situations. The role of freedom of speech in a democratic society is the guarantee of control through mass media as the fourth power which is the instrument to exercise freedom of speech (Marianna, 2012). In addition, freedom of speech is one of the essential basic of a democratic society. It means that the society, in its turn, can control the authorities in case they are aware of their activities. This will make the government to consider citizens’ thought in every action they made. Hence, preventing dictatorship. Freedom of speech should be made absolute to allow citizens to exchange views and information, to protest against injustice, to influence the public discourse, and to criticize the actions of the government. Therefore, restrictions on free speech cause harm to democratic life and stands in contradiction to the fundamental principles of

Peaceful political change is much more likely within countries that allow free speech. Christensen (2015) said that free speech can expose political corruption, follow up on campaign promises, and report on policy performance of the authorities. The systemic flexibility of democracies discourages socio-politic instability and has a positive and significant impact on economic progress, which contributes to continued stability. Freedom of speech might as well create a transparent government. When citizens has the right to voice out everything without restrictions, as consequences, it may force the government to make sure that there are no secret between the government and citizens. With this, the order of a country organized is indirectly depends on the citizens. What is a government without its citizens? Governments cannot do anything that may causes the citizens to feel threatened, or else they will have to step down from their position as a country’s leader, as the citizens have the power to freely express their dissatisfaction without worrying about the restrictions. So it is proven that an amendment regarding absolute freedom of speech will ensure the rights of the citizens will always be protected by the