Freedom of speech. People should be heard. Minds should be widened. Not shut.

That is what I thought. Lots of countries in the world control the media, control the citizens. Of what they say, what they hear. They have been monitored, censored for the advantage of their own government.

I was born and raised in a country that the media is being monitored by the government. Not all news came out, even though it was an important one. It is a pity. Most of the censorships are political, which normally against the government. People are imprisoned, without justice simply by criticizing the government.

Where is the fair play in that? But doesn’t matter. Some news do land on my ears anyways, at the end.

Now I realized that not only Malaysia enforce such laws. There are quite a number of countries that are much worse. China, being as a communist country are much worse. Even Google are censored there.

The government are not only the one that should take the blame. Even the IT company shouldn’t obey the rules. For an example Yahoo supplied their user’s private data to the Chinese government. That is just plain wrong. This is not just about censorship anymore, it is also about a breach of privacy.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It is your right to be heard. So take an action, fight to protect it.

Before I end this entry, I do not however promote “hate speeches”. Speeches that incites any hatred towards any group of people. As the Amnesty International once stated:

The right to freedom of opinion and expression should be one of the cornerstones of any society. This right includes “the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19). For more than forty years, Amnesty International (AI) has defended this right against attempts by governments across the globe to stifle religious dissent, political opposition and artistic creativity.However, the right to freedom of expression is not absolute — neither for the creators of material nor their critics. It carries responsibilities and it may, therefore, be subject to restrictions in the name of safeguarding the rights of others. In particular, any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence cannot be considered legitimate exercise of freedom of expression. Under international standards, such “hate speech” should be prohibited by law.