Do not think. Do not attempt to express yourself, whether in song or art. Do not write. And for goodness sake, do not you dare say what you really think.
Is this what we are really saying?
People should be free, nay, encouraged, to debate and discuss. Only in discourse, will we learn and grow and develop our minds.
And by discourse, I am including the pakcik and makcik gathering on the porch in the evening sun after a hard day's work over a cup of teh tarik discussing local politics. Because if my growing-up years are anything to go by, half my hometown would be in jail if Big Brother had yumcha with them.
The right to open, honest and respectful debate also encourages the right to disagree. I have my opinion, you have yours – and we should not be afraid, or worse, told, that we cannot express it.
Having outdated laws and provisions which punish people for speaking and writing will guarantee the fall of society.
In six years, we expect to be a developed country. Being a "developed" country does not just mean building transport links and tall buildings.
For what are tall buildings and high-speed trains if we do not have the knowledge to use and, equally importantly, improve them?
"Developed" is defined by Google as "grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate".
Another definition says "start to exist, experience, possess". Malaysia though, is not developing. At least, not where it counts – her people. It is regressing at an alarming rate.
The Economist says that the prime minister risks losing his "reformist" title if the persecution against elected officials, student activists, journalists, academics and perhaps the armchair critic next continues. I disagree.
Malaysia's leader has already damaged his "reformist" persona, proven in the last few weeks with this arbitrary use of laws which should have been buried or amended long ago.
The only way to repair this is to face the criticism head on, keep the government's pre-election promises and abolish laws which prevent people from saying what they think. That and daring to agree with civil society and the thinking Malaysian.
Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan, the brainchild of civil society organisations supported by other efforts, including the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Bar Council's #MansuhAktaHasutan campaign, speaks volumes on where we think the country is heading to if we do not band to call for change now.
International human rights laws tell us that our freedom to express is guaranteed. Local laws say otherwise.
And we must not be afraid to speak up and stand up for what we believe in. If we are wrong, then we learn.
But only through exploring other opinions and ideas, weighing their merits and weaknesses, can we break the chains of oppression.
The quicksand that is the Sedition Act cannot be allowed to stifle and clamp our thoughts nor should it prevent or scare any Malaysian from expressing them.
Speaking up against atrocities – be it the war in Gaza, American weapons policies, brutalities committed by the Islamic State and acts of oppression against Padang Serai elected representative N. Surendran, student activists Adam Adli and Safwan Anang and others who are survivors of the Sedition Act – has one thing in common: they affect each one of us.
"Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilised man.” – Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear.
Send the Sedition Act back to 1948, for it does not belong in 2014.
* Shamini Darshni is the executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia. TMI
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