CRITICAL CRACKDOWN: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION UNDER THREAT IN MALAYSIA Freedom of expression is under attack in Malaysia. Civil society activists, academics, opposition politicians, journalists, social media users and even cartoonists have been targeted by repressive laws used to stifle dissent. In recent years, one of the laws most frequently used to restrict freedom of expression is the Sedition Act of 1948. The use of the law – increasingly against individuals simply expressing political, religious and other views – is leading many people to exercise selfcensorship, with a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country. Among those who have been targeted by the government include: • Political cartoonist Zunar is on trial for nine counts of sedition over tweets criticizing a Federal Court decision; • Law professor Azmi Sharom, charged with sedition for offering his legal opinion on measures taken during a constitutional crisis; • Student activist Khalid Ismath is on trial for three counts of sedition for social media comments allegedly offensive to the Johor State royal family; • Journalist Susan Loone, arrested for reporting the words of a politician that were allegedly seditious; • Human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen, on trial for a sedition charge for his tweets critical of a government religious agency; and • Opposition politician Rafizi Ramli is facing multiple sedition investigations for several different criticism of the government's political and economic policies. 2015 ALONE INSTANCES OF THE SEDITION ACT WAS USED TO ARREST, INVESTIGATE OR CHARGE INDIVIDUALS 1 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak publicly committed in 2012 to repeal the Sedition Act, which had been little used before 2009. However, he has failed to deliver on this commitment and has instead sought to strengthen this repressive law. The number of individuals arrested and charged with sedition has also increased dramatically since 2013. Between 2009 and 2012, there were around 30 cases of individuals charged under the Sedition Act. Since 2013, when general elections were last held, in which the government lost the popular vote but still returned to power, there have been 176 Sedition Cases involving various individuals, usually for comments or acts deemed critical of the government. In 2015 alone, between 1 January and 31 December there were at least 91 instances of the Sedition Act being used to arrest, investigate or charge individuals, sometimes more than once. That is nearly five times as many as during the first 50 years of the Act’s existence. Aug Sep Oct Nov 31 Dec Despite their commitment to repeal the Sedition Act, the government presented an amendment to the law in April 2015, which was passed by Parliament days later, strengthening the scope of the Act and increasing the punishments that could be imposed under it. CRITICAL CRACKDOWN: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION UNDER ATTACK IN MALAYSIA 3