The case of Azmi Sharom vs the Federal Court is a battle to save a basic right for all Malaysians. But has it been lost already?
The verdict was delivered on the same week that Dr Azmi Sharom was scheduled to speak at the Nusantara Forum in Penang on October 10, which was jointly organised by Penang Institute and Gerakbudaya. The Federal Court upheld the constitutionality of the Sedition Act, which means that Azmi will have to stand trial later in the month for an allegedly seditious remark.
But that’s not all. That decision also has a larger implication on freedom of expression in Malaysia and affects more than 30 other politicians, activists and ordinary citizens whose cases under the Sedition Act were postponed while the constitutionality of the Sedition Act was being challenged by Azmi and his lawyers.
The decision to uphold the Sedition Act is only one out of four rulings that could have major implications on civil liberty. The other three are: local publisher Ezra Zaid lost his bid to nullify the Selangor state enactment which is being used to charge him for publishing a book deemed to be against the precepts of Islam; the apex court struck down a challenge to ban cross-dressing and thus dealt a major setback to the battle for the rights of the country's transgender community; and, lastly, the court also reversed a lower court’s decision to uphold freedom of assembly.
In Azmi’s words, the judgements “rolled back whatever progress we have made in the past 10 or 20 years.”
