Published on: Sunday, January 17, 2021
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Credit: connectsafely.org
HATE speech in Malaysia tends to evolve around race and religion. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been some that were directed at foreign workers/illegal migrants. Some started with pointing fingers at the initial outbreak, blaming it on tourists’ from China.
It is time we have laws against hate speech in this country. One of the biggest concerns we have on “more laws controlling speech” is the fact that they would be abused or seem to be oppressive or unfair.
Currently, Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but there are a few Acts that regulate this freedom. These include the Sedition Act 1948, Official Secrets Act 1972, Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984, Internal Security Act 1960, Penal Code, and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA).