Be Careful What You Insert!

The freedom of speech is always being questioned. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that:
‘the value of the freedom to think and act is truly immense. But freedom is not a licence to live aimlessly. And freedom has its limitations. There is no absolute freedom to do whatever we like’ (Bernama 2007).

In the Malaysia Constitution, Article 10 stated that ‘every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression’ (2006) but with certain restriction.

So, what can be put as content and what not? To what extend is the freedom of speech? How would designers know what is considered breaching the law and what is not?

The ‘Negarakuku’ incident had caused quite a stir in Malaysia whereby a Malaysian student based in Taiwan, Wee Meng Chee, rapped Malaysia national anthem that is consider offensive as it contains racial slur (The Star 2007).

Negarakuku Video

After I viewed the video, I did not think that it is offensive. The video was Wee’s own personal thought and it was reflecting the happenings in the country itself. Only Malaysian or people who are familiar with Malaysia will be able to understand the video as ‘reading is an individual act that depends critically on the reader’s unique knowledge, attitudes and values’ whereby ‘readers … make… different interpretations of the same text because of differences in their experience’ (Schriver 1997).

Besides Wee, Raja Petra was also ‘detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) because his articles ridiculed Islam’ (The Star 2008). Raja Petra was released when the High Court said that the detention was unlawful.

Raja Petra

I think that the freedom of speech is hard to be applied in Malaysia context as it can be seen that the government acts to detain or charge people who say bad things about them or on racial issues.

I think that Malaysians are mature enough to think for themselves. People should have the freedom to speak out what they think although not on all sensitive issues and the government should accept what they say and try to improve the system from there. As former de facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said ‘freedom of speech and expression were important values in society’ (The Star 2008).

References
Bernama 2007, PM's speech at the Mass Media Conference 2007, media release 29 June 2007, The Star, viewed 8 November 2008, <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/6/29/nation/20070629075851&sec=nation>.

Malaysia Government 2006, Constitution of Malaysia, viewed 7 November 2008, <http://www.gov.my/MyGov/BI/Directory/Citizen/LegalMatters/Constitution>.

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York

The Star 2007, University student comes under fire for video clip, media release 9 August 2007, The Star, viewed 7 November 2008 <http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2007/8/9/technology/20070809113244&sec=technology>

The Star 2008, Raja Petra surprised at being freed by High Court, media release 8 November 2008, The Star, viewed 8 November 2008 <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/8/nation/2493327&sec=nation>.

The Star 2008, Syed Hamid: Raja Petra’s articles ridiculed Islam, media release 24 September 2008, The Star, viewed 8 November 2008, <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/24/nation/2104063&sec=nation>.

YouTube 2007, Negarukuku by Namewee with English Translation (Re-open), viewed 6 November 2008, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyiBvJtJ5Z4>.