Editor Tulis Artikel Saja Kena Gari Tangan Di Dakwa Di Mahkamah Criminal Defamation

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By Keertan Ayamany
Tuesday, 13 Sep 2022

PETALING JAYA, Sept 13 — Azam Aris, former editor-in-chief of The Edge, has been charged twice with criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Penal Code, related to two articles that were published during his tenure.

Azam, 61, who retired from the position in November last year, pleaded not guilty to both charges when they were read before him at the Magistrate’s Court here today.

The articles were published on The Edge's weekly issues dated, September 21 to September 27, 2020, and April 12 to April 18, 2021 and are understood to be about alleged penny stock manipulations.
My Comments : I have said this many times before and I will say it again. 
The greatest threat to this country are the outdated libel and defamation laws, the ridiculously archaic Sedition Act and the religious crimes enactments.
I have also said this before and I will say it again - the Internal Security Act (ISA) by itself was never a threat to anyone's  security. And here is proof : the ISA has been abolished but do you really think that now you are protected from being arrested in the middle of the night?
The ISA has been abolished but there are other laws in place which can still threaten your freedom for highly debatable reasons.   
This person above Azam Aris was a newspaper editor. A writer. He wrote down words on paper. Just words. And he can be charged for "criminal defamation" under the Penal Code. 
Here is something about Criminal Defamation:
Criminal Defamation

Historically, defamation was usually a criminal offence.  While some countries still have the offence of criminal defamation on their statute books, it is widely opposed, most notably by the United Nations (UN) and the Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) who have both urged states to reconsider such laws.  
For instance, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) General Comment No. 34 provides that: “States Parties should consider the decriminalisation of defamation and, in any case, the application of the criminal law should only be countenanced in the most serious of cases and imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty”.  
Principle XIII(1) of the Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa calls on states to review all criminal restrictions on content to ensure that they serve a legitimate interest in a democratic society.

The United Nations has come to its senses and opposes criminal defamation. Even African countries have urged states to review criminal restrictions on content (writing). 
It looks like once again we are still groping in the Dark Ages. This is already the 21st century. This country is still not modern yet. 
I have said this before and I will say it again. In other countries they define what is called a public personality. A public personality is anyone who depends on the public to make a living, for their social status or fame. 
So the pisang goreng seller, writers, public listed companies, the dentist, doctors, lawyers, airlines, oil companies, politicians, the priests, monks, imams, artistes, actors, singers, dancers etc are ALL public personalities. They depend on the public for their income, their business, their profession, their status in society and their fame. 
Basically these people are telling the public :  You can put your trust in me, give me your money, place your future in my hands, place your life in my hands.

And hence their laws make it very, very difficult for these public personalities to sue the ordinary citizens (or anyone) for defamation (libel, slander). It will be almost impossible to cite anyone for criminal defamation. 


Over here in our country Malaysia when the public says something about them which they dont like, suddenly the defamation suits, the libel suits and the criminal defamation acts start to kick in.  
The ex-editor above has been charged with criminal defamation. I received info that he was handcuffed along the process. For writing articles?
In the past I have received letters of demand from huge corporations for defamation. One was for an article someone else wrote which I posted. Another was a technical error  by someone else which again I posted then quickly took it down. 
Strangely not long after I received one letter of demand the CEO of the corporation was quite summarily fired from his job.  He then joined the Board of a foreign company and again was removed after objections by other shareholders of that foreign company.  What can I say saudara, padan muka.
Another corporation that sent  me a letter of demand suddenly got its name dragged through the media over some corruption related news overseas.  Which they had to deny.  Then the Covid pandemic set in and I believe they suffered losses. Talk is they too are going into  "affordable, cheap and discounted" food delivery.  Now everyone can eat cheap. Thambi / bhiyya, all the best to you but sometimes karma can be a bummer.


To conclude we really must abolish, amend and/or adapt our archaic defamation laws, the ridiculous sedition act and the unnecessary religious criminal enactments. 
We really, really have to catch up with the modern world.
This is the key word - modern. Too many things and too many folks running around in this country are just not modern.
You can take the fellow out of the village but you still cannot take the village out of the fellow.
You can take the millionaires out of the "lines" but you just cannot take the "lines" out of the millionaires.

We really need to change. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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