Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia Case of Fadiah Nadwa Fikri In July 2018, lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri was investigated by the police under section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and section 233 of the CMA, for posting an article on the blog, ‘Malaysia Muda’, which had been critical of the interaction between Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the People’s Justice Party (PKR), and Malaysian royalty.256 Soon after, in the same month, Fadiah was called in for questioning by the police under section 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act for attending a solidarity event that had been held for her.257 In a similar case: In August 2018, youth activist Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi was investigated by the police under the Sedition Act and CMA for alleged insult of Sultan Muhammad V in a speech he made in a solidarity rally held to support Fadiah.258 iii. Laws on sedition Sedition laws have often been used to restrict freedom of expression, due to overbroad provisions which allow for such abuse. This is evident from the cases described above in Thailand and Malaysia where sedition laws have been used to unduly limit speech relating to the monarchy. This section analyzes how sedition laws in not only Thailand and Malaysia, but also Myanmar, Brunei and Philippines have been misused to harass and penalize individuals expressing themselves on questions of public interest, by designating a wide range of expression as capable of causing “unrest” or “disaffection” or of compromising national security or public order. 256 The blogpost is accessible at: Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, ‘Don’t Kiss the Hand that Beats You’, Malaysia Muda, 9 July 2018, Available at: https://malaysiamuda.wordpress.com/2018/07/09/dont-kissthe-hand-that-beats-you/; See also FMT reporters, ‘Drop all charges against lawyer Fadiah, says PJ MP Maria’, Free Malaysia Today, 12 July 2018, Available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday. com/category/nation/2018/07/12/drop-all-charges-against-lawyer-fadiah-says-pj-mp-maria/; FMT Reporters, ‘Hakam condemns probe into lawyer Fadiah for sedition’, Free Malaysia Today, 11 July 2018, Available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/07/11/hakamcondemns-probe-into-lawyer-fadiah-for-sedition/ 257 Vinodh Pillai, ‘At centre of sedition probe, Fadiah gets support from rights activists’, Free Malaysia Today, 13 July 2018, Available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/ nation/2018/07/13/at-centre-of-sedition-probe-fadiah-gets-support-from-rights-activists/ 258 Nurul Azwa Aris, ‘Cops seize activist’s phone in probe over ‘insulting’ Agong’, Free Malaysia Today, 14 August 2018, Available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/08/14/ cops-seized-activists-phone-in-probe-over-insulting-agong/ 75