By Yeo Bee Yin, Damansara Utama State Assemblywoman

On 16 October 2014, while hundreds of lawyers in suits took the street under the scorching sun of Malaysia to speak up against Sedition Act 1948, UMNO and Gerakan youth chiefs belittle the march on Twitter with their fingers. Their remarks on the march were shrouded in the shadows of the old politics while as youth chiefs they are supposed to be the voices for tomorrow. Disappointing indeed.

Both of them believe that the Sedition Act (or elements of it) is needed to safeguard against offensive speeches and maintain national harmony. Perhaps they have forgotten that even after so many years of using the law, our national harmony has worsened to one of the lowest points in the history. Lasting harmony requires genuine understanding between different groups through education and discourse, not suppression of thoughts and speech and oppression of the dissenters.

Khairy pointed out that selective prosecution is the cause of bad public perception on Sedition Act, not the act itself. To quote Bar Council’s memorandum, “The lesson we learn is that the justness in the use of such laws cannot be dependent on the good faith of the authorities. Laws must in themselves be good and just. The Sedition Act 1948 is not such a law.”

As young Malaysians, we shall not be misled by the BN youth chiefs into believing that oppressive law is the answer to national harmony. We shall stand up against unjust laws and be the guardians of the future liberty of this nation.

Through the history, our nation has time and again given in to laws that suppress the freedom of the people. University and University College Act 1971 has almost completely killed students activism in all the campuses in Malaysia, stifling the voices of our university students at a time in their lives that they should be encouraged to think critically and debate intensely. Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 restricts journalistic freedom, contributing to the overall deterioration of democracy and election justice in Malaysia.

Giving in to oppressive laws is no longer an option for our generation. It is the duty of this generation to ensure that oppressive laws will have no place in the future of Malaysia. There will be people such as the BN youth chiefs that question the necessity of the acts of standing up against such law, but when the dust is finally settled, the history will remember those who stood up for freedom, justice and democracy.

I am Yeo Bee Yin and I support the abolition of Sedition Act.