I felt the heat long before The Heat

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jan 2, 2014

First learn what freedom of speech actually means before you talk about it. Then learn how to allow others freedom of speech before you demand that the government allows you freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is a two-way street. It is what you give so that you can receive.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Malaysia is currently in an uproar regarding the government action against The Heat.

Actually, I already felt the heat long before The Heat did — three years since 2010 to be exact. This is further to the ten years heat the government subjected me to from 2000 to 2010 when I launched the Free Anwar Campaign website in 2000 followed by Malaysia Today in 2004.

I initially had the impression that the Malaysian government and the Barisan Nasional supporters and leaders are intolerant with dissent and criticism. For ten years from 2000 I wrote article after article saying that Malaysia allows freedom of speech. It is only that Malaysia does not allow freedom after speech. I also wrote that Umno is the acronym for ‘U must not oppose’.

Then, in 2010, I discovered that not only are the government and Barisan Nasional supporters and leaders intolerant with dissent and criticism but that the opposition and the Pakatan Rakyat supporters and leaders are also the same. The opposition and Pakatan Rakyat people are as vicious with those who criticise them as the government people are.

Agreed, the government and the ruling party have short tempers with people who criticise them. But then the opposition is just the same. They, too, have short tempers with people who criticise them.

What right do the opposition supporters and leaders have in getting outraged with the action the government is taking against The Heat? The government may not, as they say, respect freedom of speech. But neither does the opposition. Can those who live in glasshouses throw stones? How can you claim the moral high ground and accuse others of wrongdoings that you yourself perpetuate?

First of all, freedom of speech, to the understanding of opposition supporters, means freedom to lie, curse, vilify, insult, belittle and so on. That, to them, is freedom of speech. Okay, let us say we include all that as freedom of speech. Would you allow the other side to do the same?

If Utusan Malaysia vilifies the Chinese and asks them, ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?’, is that acceptable since freedom of speech includes freedom to lie, curse, vilify, insult, belittle, and so on?

You will say, “Of course not!” You will say this is not acceptable. You will say this is not considered freedom of speech. You will say this is what they would call racism. You will argue that freedom of speech does not include freedom to lie, curse, vilify, insult, belittle, and so on — or freedom to make racist comments.

The government cannot do that. The government-owned media cannot do that. But you can do that. Why can you do that when the government or government-owned media cannot?

You can do that because you are just exercising your right of freedom of speech while the government cannot do that because you do not like it.

You can do what you like. The government must also do what you like. Those are the rules and code of conduct that Malaysia must adopt.

All I need to do is to criticise Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng, PKR, DAP, PAS, Pakatan Rakyat, the Selangor government, the Penang government, or whatever, and see what the response is going to be like. See how they vilify those who say something that they don’t like to hear, never mind that this may be the truth.

Do you have the right to whack the government for not respecting your right of freedom of speech when you, too, do not respect the right of freedom of speech for others?

This is utter bullshit. It just demonstrates the immaturity of the opposition supporters plus their hypocrisy as well. Freedom of speech is what they want. Freedom of speech is not what they will give. And this is the new Malaysia we are supposed to be fighting for — a Malaysia that is merely old wine in a new bottle?