COMMENT | A punishable freedom is not authentic freedom

Hanipa MaidinPublished: Jan 18, 2026 10:13 AM | Updated: Jan 18, 2026 10:14 AM

COMMENT | A former Free Malaysia Today journalist Rex Tan was recently arrested under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and Section 505 (c) of the Penal Code and in turn remanded for one day.

He is also being investigated under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA).

He was alleged to have uttered seditious words which purportedly carried racial overtones during a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur featuring UK politician George Galloway, titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors”.

In justifying Tan's arrest, the home minister reportedly said that...

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