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Benefits Of Sedition Act 1948

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The Sedition Act 1948 is a law prohibiting discourse deemed as seditious. The context deemed as “seditious” can be applied in any aspect of acts, speeches, words or publications having a seditious tendency. A seditious tendency under Section 3 (1) of Sedition Act 1948 is defined as following:

According to Johan (2014), offence of sedition was originated in England in the 17th century. The Sedition Act was born in a time when the absolute right of the ruler was divine and could not be criticised, opposed and questioned by the citizens. If any criticisms were made towards the ruler, it was considered as a sin and hence the prosecutor must be punished (Johan, 2014). However, the Sedition Act 1948 was enacted by the British colonial government …show more content…

Moreover, the law should always ensure swift and effective investigations into all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by police and bringing those responsible to justice in trials which meet international standards of fairness (Shetty, n.d.). All the laws in Malaysia which restricts the right to freedom of expression including the Sedition Act 1948 should be reviewed and amended with strict obedience with international human rights law and standards because clearly the Sedition Act 1948 does not comply with the international human rights law. In my opinion, the Sedition Act 1948 has too much power over the defendants which do not serve any form of justice to them. This law also imposes the government to abuse its powers over the citizens by having the term “seditious tendency” to be a vague and inefficient. This restriction on freedom of expression does not uphold the spirit of democracy that forms the basis of our country’s lawful framework. According to Ariffin (2013), we the citizens have the rights to oppose the government in the name of democracy. Freedom of speech and expression is protected by the Federal Constitution and the interpretation of the law as it currently stands is that any form of restriction placed by the state on fundamental liberties must be reasonable (Johan, 2014). Lastly, in Azmi’s case of Sedition, the Sedition Act 1948 should exclude the acts, speeches and publications for academic purposes. It is a valid fact that we are not able to change in the country’s past hence we can only move forward and learn about it. This is why academia purposes should not be enact into Sedition Act

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