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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Endnotes 1. 2. 3. Freedom House, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2020: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse. org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2020; Freedom House, FREEDOM On The Net 2020: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-net/2020; Reporters sans frontières, RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, (2020), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2020; Freedom House, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2021: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse. org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2021; Freedom House, FREEDOM On The Net 2021: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-net/2021, Reporters sans frontières, RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, (2021), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2021; Freedom House, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2022: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse. org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2022; Freedom House, FREEDOM On The Net 2022: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-net/2022; Reporters sans frontières, RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, (2022), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2022; Freedom House, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2023: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse. org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2023; Freedom House, FREEDOM On The Net 2023: Malaysia, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-net/2023, Reporters sans frontières, RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, (2023), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2023 The Federal Constitution of Malaysia incorporating all amendments up to P.U.(A) 164/2009, available at: http://www.jac.gov.my/spk/images/stories/10_ akta/perlembagaan_persekutuan/federal_constitution.pdf The Federal Constitution of Malaysia incorporating all amendments up to P.U.(A) 164/2009, available at: http://www.jac.gov.my/spk/images/stories/10_ akta/perlembagaan_persekutuan/federal_constitution.pdf 4. Malaysian Criminal Code of 1997, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b5cf0.html 5. Malaysian Criminal Code of 1997, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b5cf0.html 172 6. Malaysian Criminal Code of 1997, Section 298A, available at: https://www.burgielaw.com/resources/ act?act_title=Penal+Code&section=298A; Free Malaysia Today, Stop charging people for insults under ‘unconstitutional’ law, says media NGO, (28 February 2019), available at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday. com/category/nation/2019/02/28/stop-chargingpeople-for-insults-under-unconstitutional-law-saysmedia-ngo/ 7. Malaysian Criminal Code of 1997, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b5cf0.html 8. Defamation Act (1957), available at: https://sso.agc. gov.sg/Act/DA1957 9. Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) Malaysia,,A Report on The State of Freedom of Expression (FOE) in Malaysia 2023, (n.d.), available at : https:// cijmalaysia.net/a-report-on-the-state-of-freedom-ofexpression-foe-in-malaysia-2023/ 10. Sedition (Amendment) Act 2015, available at: https://www.cljlaw.com/files/bills/pdf/2015/MY_ FS_BIL_2015_17.pdf 11. Evidence Act (Amended) of 2012, available at: https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ Malaysia-Evidence-Amendment-Act-2012-eng.pdf 12. Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, (1 September 2012), available at: https://www.moha.gov. my/images/maklumat_bahagian/PQ/Act301.pdf 13. Communications and Multimedia Act (1998), available at: https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/ media/General/pdf/Act588bi_3.pdf 14. The Star, ‘I am the only King to reign with four PMs, four different Cabinets’, (13 February 2021), available at: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/ nation/2023/02/13/039i-am-the-only-king-to-reignwith-four-pms-four-different-cabinets039 15. Freedom House, Freedom on the Net 2021: Malaysia, (2021), available at: https://freedomhouse. org/country/malaysia/freedom-net/2021; Freedom House, Freedom on the Net 2022: Malaysia, (2022), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-net/2022 Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Information Operation
Internet Restrictions

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MANUSHYA

Date Published: Mar 8, 2024

Abstract: Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024 Whether we like it or not, we are living through a pivotal moment for the future of human rights. This includes the issue of our digital rights, and the question of our online freedoms. In places like Southeast Asia, where the majority of its peoples are experiencing immense threats to their online and offline freedoms, at the hands of opportunistic governments and corporations, this is especially prevalent. The digital space has become an integral part of human life, and is still growing in its influence over our world. Accordingly, if our freedoms in the digital space are endangered, our freedoms overall are endangered as well.

It is understandable to feel powerless while possessing this knowledge. But it is not enough to just know about the forces acting against our human rights, and understand that they are dangerous. If we truly want to create a safer, more equitable, more liberated world - which we all know, deep down, is possible - we must understand these forces, and act accordingly. We must equip ourselves with knowledge about what governments, corporations, and other powers that be are doing, alongside demanding our rights to freedom. The powers that be have weaponised the online and digital space, as well as the law, against the people that these things are supposed to serve and protect. It is our right to protect ourselves with research, knowledge, advocacy, and the power of the people. When we understand the powers we are up against, fighting back will become less daunting.

This is what our report, titled Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia, is for. Join us in powering ourselves with knowledge, in order to compel ourselves to action!

As always, our work is rooted in decolonial, feminist, intersectional values, with historically marginalised people at the centre. Thus, this work was a collaboration between a coalition of groups oriented in these values: ALTSEAN-Burma, Cambodian Center for Human Rights, ELSAM, Free Expression Myanmar, Foundation for Media Alternatives, ILGA Asia, Manushya Foundation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, SAFEnet, Viet Tan, and Women’s Peace Network. What is the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship? The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship was established in 2020, by human rights and digital rights activists from Southeast Asia, on a mission to decolonize digital rights and restore our online democracies.

Together, we stand in solidarity with one another, with people from the Global Majority, resisting and pushing back against authoritarian governments and complicit tech companies.

We tell our realities from the ground, and we develop solutions together.

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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