Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia Cases of Eric Liew Chee Ling, Azham Akhtar Abdullah and Nur Alia Astaman In January 2019, Eric Liew Chee Ling, Azham Akhtar Abdullah and Nur Alia Astaman were arrested and investigated by the police pursuant to section 4(1) of the Sedition Act after posting comments on their social media accounts which were deemed insulting to Sultan Muhammad V after his abdication from his position as Yang di-Pertuan Agong a few days earlier.246 These comments had made allegations regarding the Sultan’s private life which had led to the abdication. Liew’s post had been made on Facebook and Abdullah and Astaman’s comments were made on Twitter.247 While Liew, Abdullah and Astaman removed their comments soon after their posting, screenshots of their posts were reportedly shared widely.248 Liew left his company soon after the incident, and Abdullah and Astaman were suspended from work and investigated by their companies regarding their online comments.249 246 Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin, ‘Eric Liew, two others arrested for sedition over posts on former Agong’, Malay Mail, 9 January 2019, Available at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/ malaysia/2019/01/09/eric-liew-two-others-arrested-for-sedition-over-posts-on-formeragong/1710670; Agence France-Presse, ‘Anger at arrests in Malaysia for alleged royal insults’, The Jakarta Post, 10 January 2019, Available at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/seasia/2019/01/10/ anger-at-arrests-in-malaysia-for-alleged-royal-insults.html 247 Channel News Asia, ‘3 arrested for insulting former Malaysian king on social media’, 9 January 2019, Available at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/3-arrested-insult-seditionmalaysia-king-sultan-muhammad-v-11102288 248 Rachel Genevieve Chia, ‘Angry netizens just got someone arrested and fired for ‘insulting’ Malaysia’s former King – and two more people could face the same fate’, Business Insider Singapore, 10 January 2019, Available at: https://www.businessinsider.sg/angry-netizens-just-gotsomeone-arrested-and-fired-for-insulting-malaysias-former-king-and-two-more-people-could-facethe-same-fate/ 249 Ibid. 73