Before I start writing this, I tried to search sites about freedom of speech or freedom of
expression on local Malaysian search engines, such as catcha.com, cari.com.my, melayu.net,
malaysiadirectory.com, but the result is not very informative. There are some links about
reformasi and Anwar, but lets not go there... for now. If you found any good links about freedom
of speech in Malaysia mail it to me ok?
In my search for freedom of speech sites on the net I found the blue ribbon campaign by EFF (do
you think I should put the ribbon on The Nodal Point's site?), and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. Let me quote some thing from it "Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.".
So basically everyone has the right to say his or her opinions and ideas. But are we ready for
this?
Here is a situation that could happen. Lets say there is this someone that you know and you think
that he or she is a freak or something like that (or maybe worse, I just couldn't think of any
right now). So one day you walk up to him/her and say "hey, I think you should change you attitude
or the way you dress or something because you look like a freak! Damn you are ugly ". Next you
find your face in a collision with his fist or her handbag. What had happen here? Ok that may not
be the best example, but it is the best that I can came out with in this unholy hour:). Lets get
back to the situation, did you did something wrong? In my book,... nope.
Now let us put our self in the so-called freak shoes. What should we do? Well here is what you
should say "I accept your opinion, but I choose not to agree". Yes even if someone say to you
that your mother is a bitch, or you are a bitch, or you are a lame brain loser... etc (hmmm...
I just couldn't think about any other bad stuff on people rite now, wonder why? :) ) just say "I
accept your opinion, but I choose not to agree" We have to know that accepting one's opinion and
agreeing with one's opinion are two different things. This is because I think that where there is
freedom of speech, there must be freedom of choice (if there are no such thing as freedom of
choice, well I think there should be). To agree or not to agree, that is the question. Well that
question, you have to answer it your self. In my opinion you have the rights to agree or disagree
as much as the other person has the rights to express his/her opinion. That I think must be the
first rule of freedom of speech.
If you said that in freedom of speech you mustn't use any of those words like, fuck, bitch, etc,
or you shouldn't say bad things about people or thing that may hurt their feelings. That means
that there are limits in freedom of speech. Well, I think that is dumb. How can you say that it is
freedom if it has limits? If it has limits, it is not called freedom of speech, it is called...
errr.. something other than freedom of speech. Yes I know that this ain't petty, but things that
are pretty or nice doesn't mean that it is right, and things that not pretty or ugly doesn't mean
that it is wrong. Some of you that is been reading this must be saying that if people can say
bad things about people, this could let to hatred. If you think about it, it is good to have your
hatred expressed in words rather than in actions. Instead of fighting, we could have debates.
Don't you think that the world would be a much more peaceful place?
Why am I writing this? Well one of the reason why is that I'm trying to save my, Terew Bonf, and
other Nodal Point's writers or would be writers asses:). This is because freedom of speech is
what The Nodal Point is all about. The main reason of me writing this article is to try open up
your minds. And I hope it did.
Hmmm.. I think there must be a lot of flames coming my way:). Send it to:
--Jibone Sith--
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