Malaysia Constitutional Law Professor Challenges Colonial-Era Sedition Act

November 16th, 2014

Law Professors take for granted that when we criticize the government, the courts, or an opinion, usually nothing happens. I mean that in two senses. Nothing happens, because no one in power reads what we write. More importantly, even if someone in power reads what we write, nothing will happen to us. That isn’t the case elsewhere.

The New York Times profiles a constitutional law professor in Malaysia who is facing up to three years in jail for criticizing the government under a colonial-era Sedition Act. He is now trying to challenge the law through the Malaysian judicial process–a process that seems inconsistent with the rule of law.