Hello, people!

Recently, there's been a lot of a push to say that Malaysia is a place where speech is being suppressed and you can't express your opinion, but I want to know how you genuinely feel about it.

Do you feel that you have freedom of speech in Malaysia?

Please vote in the poll and let me know how you feel as well!

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It would be arrogant to the degree of a lie to say that I make policies, but it would be an understatement to the degree of a lie to say that I am not heard or that I have had no interaction with policymakers that has materially shaped policies.

It is also a little presumptuous for you to say that someone is only worth interacting with if they are a policymaker or to tread in the direction of saying people who ask questions about policy are only worth talking to IF they are policymakers, don’t you think?

Nice for you to exercise your freedom of speech.

Now consider reflecting on why you’ve chosen to make the comment that you did ya.

it depends on the topic. some topics u can freely discuss and u have reasonable freedom in it (for example, economy, non r&r items)

but, there are certain topics, u can't have constructive discussions and/or critic at all - for example 3Rs

oh please, just because you need to be careful by commenting on 3R issues doesnt mean you got your right retracted.
freedom of speech is always there with repercussion if you are not careful.
but then, we cant even curse at the police officer so yeah a certain degree was surely blocked from your freedom of speech probably due to the cultural influence in our society

Is there really a need for a poll on freedom of speech, when the TS will delete a post that they do not like?

Oh, the irony!

Yeah, definitely not. I hope that discussion will become more nuanced though! I'm going to share a piece about this pretty soon, and I hope it'll be a good contribution into the national conversation. I don't think we'll start discussing the 3R's by any means, but I think it's definitely worthwhile for people to know about what they are and why people consider them sensitive to talk about!

Yes, absolutely - I've heard people say different things ranging from "freedom of speech doesn't exist" to "there is freedom of speech", but the best way I can think about it is from a probability standpoint.

I would say you have freedom of speech in a country where the likelihood of you being caught for something that you say that does not amount to incitement or harm is very low. In Malaysia, I think that we definitely have 3R restrictions for sure. Even nowadays, when you bring in private platforms, the question of freedom of speech has been muddied. In the US, freedom of speech legislation applies primarily to criticisms of the government, which the US protects very strongly. On the other hand, when it comes to speech within private platforms and also within companies, there is no such protection.

In the US, where First Amendment protections exist, it is interesting to think about the police officer case that you mentioned earlier. In the US, swearing against a police officer is often thought of as something that the police should be able to tolerate because they are in a unique capacity and force of the law and therefore must be subject to a higher degree of tolerance. But the reality is that they can bring you in for disorderly conduct, interfering with police duties, and otherwise. Whether that negates your freedom of speech or not depends on how you define freedom of speech in the first place. If freedom of speech was only ever your ability to say something, then I would say that all jurisdictions around the world already had freedom of speech.

Obviously NO. This doesn't even only apply to basic topics such as 3R, but in business practices such advertising where competitive advertising (the mention of a business's competitor) is prohibited or heavy regulated to the extend that such action is deemed outright illegal.

Freedom of speech is not without repercussions. remember that. Its not a license to spew nonsense.

Seeing MY, we are not like Assad's Syria that you will be jailed / tortured for commenting on the Gov. So at least its something.

This post has been edited by MegaCanonF: Dec 16 2024, 12:34 PM

Competitive advertising is not prohibited but restricted under Trade mark law. There are some requirements to be reached in order to establish the defense of competitive advertising.

Can I take it from you that you think trade mark law on competitive advertising is too restrictive that it hinders ones' freedom of speech?

But i think the use of trade mark are more of commercial activities, not so much of personal opinion or expression.

if they got arrested due to freedom of speech, they hit a jackpot

Some people interpret freedom of speech as TOTAL freedom, and that is never the case.
The law of any country so far as I know will always have some topic that cannot even be approached, by virtue of their own history & circumstances.

Even Norway, Iceland, Sweden who generally have a decent reputation for these things have their own prohibitions. No absolute freedom exists.
Also people's opinion of free speech is usually based on the prohibition of the topic of THEIR interests.

A better question IMO is where do we rank on the relevant scores & indexes that study said rights,
but even then it's flawed because the 'measuring ruler' for them is based on values from their own countries which is not exactly a universal truth.

It is his right to ask your purpose and state his reasons and for you to belittle that statement shows the elitist mindset of those in corridors of power - want to know what the people think but then make statements that inflame the regular people.

Agree.

the facade of freedom of speech exists, if they dont agree with your speech, your the problem.

Commercial or not, it's important to acknowledge that such laws are created by humans, which reflect an underlying intent to suppress. Freedom of speech is not limited to personal opinions. It encompasses the rights to share truthful information, even in commercial contexts. The belief that this has no impact on freedom of speech arises from a norm created by the already restrictive status, which only sustain the erosion of such rights.

You want to test your freedom of speech, without using 3R, then start a discussion about economy, capitalism, feudalism, and communism. No need to fake news and gaslighting, just use facts.

Some /k did ask about capitalism, yet my posted topic about economy was 'lost'. Not even filed away in business section or real world issues.

I agree with what you said.

However, I invite you to view the law from the perspective that it represents a compromise among the rights of various parties, especially when each party believes they hold the sole truth.

Expression of opinion on certain mark do not typically happen in a trade mark 'use'.