THE quest for greater academic freedom for Malaysian university students has seen an eventful past six months. In October 2011, a landmark Court of Appeal decision declared section 15(5)(a) of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA) unconstitutional. The section prohibits students from expressing support for, or opposition against, any political party. In November […]
Holding Court
Restricting the government’s choices?
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
IT was troubling to read Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s reasons for the release of eight immigration officers detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Hishammuddin said he decided to release the eight, detained “in connection” with human trafficking activities, because they showed “remorse” over their mistakes. He also considered their wishes […]
Defahmi and defamation online
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
THEATRE practitioner, writer and aspiring politician Fahmi Fadzil has become a minor celebrity after agreeing to tweet 100 times that he defamed a publishing company. Fahmi had published a tweet about a pregnant friend who purportedly resigned from Female magazine due to poor human resource practices by her employer, BluInc Media. In his 100-tweet apology, […]
Fighting the likes of Ibrahim Ali and Utusan Malaysia
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
PERKASA president Datuk Ibrahim Ali‘s call for a “crusade” against Christians who challenge Islam’s position was disturbing, to say the least. As was the unsubstantiated front-page Utusan Malaysia report that Christian leaders had pledged to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia. What should be the right response to such hurtful and false speech? Should […]
Syabas concession agreements: Why so secret?
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
THE federal government has prevailed yet again in keeping secrets from the Malaysian public. On 25 Feb 2011, the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision compelling the disclosure of an audit report and a 2004 water concession agreement. How are the audit report and the agreement significant? And why did the Court of […]
Regulating the internet: What’s BN afraid of?
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
CAN the Malaysian government actually be thinking of imposing more controls on our already overly-regulated right to freedom of expression? There’s a myriad of laws available to arrest, charge, fine and jail Malaysians for speaking their minds in ways the government disapproves of. But apparently, these controls are still not enough. On 24 Jan 2011 […]
The truth about statutory declarations
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
WHAT is the difference between signing a statutory declaration (SD) and just saying something is true? Indeed, how are they different from “normal” statements? Is something more true just because it’s contained in an SD? And what happens when an SD is retracted? Until private investigator P Balasubramaniam emerged in the public eye, many probably […]
Is the ISA the answer to human trafficking?
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
Corrected on 25 Oct 2010, 5.35pm THREE years ago, amid much fanfare to prove Malaysia’s credentials to the international community, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government enacted the Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act 2007 (Atip). The law gives enforcement officers the power to arrest anyone they reasonably suspect of committing human trafficking offences, even without a warrant. […]
Why the government fears satire
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
WHY is the government charging someone for writing a satirical piece? On 2 Sep 2010, Irwan Abdul Rahman, a Malay Mail executive editor was charged over a blog posting entitled “TNB to sue WWF over earth hour.” Irwan’s posting on his website Nose4news was below a huge banner with the words “The truth is out […]
Talking about retrenchment
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
S K WIGNESWARY was an executive at an established media organisation for more than nine years. One Monday, she went to work as usual. By that evening, she was out of a job. “The department head made an announcement at about 4pm that a list of names would be called out and our services would […]
