In the discussion in The Stream of Al Jazeera English, Femi Oke seemed to have some trouble in understanding what actually constitute sedition in the Sedition Act, particularly with the charges being applied recently. Maybe being the one chaged with the Act or having to spearhead the substitute of the Act (Im referring to Saifuddin Abdullah here) made things somewhat blurry for them. Being an observer (and almost at risk of being charged with such) its not actually that hard to determine what can be considered seditious under the Act; questioning the monarch, questioning the act of police and questioning the ruling of court, especially ones related to royal decision. I know Im not even a law student hence my opinion would not even be appreciable, but the problem itself, at least under my personal opinion, is not about the Act and the broad definition per se; its the sincerity of people in power of charging that becomes a puzzle. In simpler words for me to imply from the problem, the Sedition Act (or even its substitute) is incompatible with democracy as long as the state is not really civilised to be really sincere with ideas rather than merely staying in power. I believe civil communities in Malaysia, when they campaign for the repealing of such Act, they voice it out because they lose confidence in the authorities credibility to maintain the state of harmony, equality and justice within society. If they really are credible, the Act itself would not be a nationwide issue as it is today. We would like to get over with if this problem is not solved, we change the govt! and reform the idea to be more appreciative of reforms of ideas and substantial arguments. But if the sincerity is not there, there are like no point in discussing ideas when we know that those who stay in power are just merely wanting too keep staying in power. We cannot blame others for being unintellectually seditious when we failed to educate the society sincerely especially when its our job to actually promote the civil environment. youtube/watch?v=W9FjWZ4npTs
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:06:05 +0000