Alvivi and the right to freedom of expression

Freedom of expression is not absolute, but it is fundamental to any pretensions we may have to democracy. And even Hayek argued that without the right to express opinions that are despised by the majority, there is unlikely to be any progress. Just ask Galileo, or Thomas Paine, or Martin Luther King, Jr. We need to hear things we don't like - and we aren't going to know which are the things we need to hear. History will, to some extent, be the judge of that.

I think it's highly unlikely that we will look back and feel that we needed the recent posts by the duo known as Alvivi. But the point is that the laws that we make and the laws that we enact, need to be based upon the arguments to respect freedom of expression - especially if we want to live up to the democratic ideals the country has, as I say, pretensions toward.

But, every government (the anarchist in me says, duh!) has laid out limitations to that right. I have difficulty, however, in seeing exactly which legitimate restriction of FOE the Alvivi post would fall into. It was offensive, of course. But the problem with restricting freedom of expression on the grounds that material is offensive sees an awful lot of speech shut down - from the writings and thoughts of Farish Noor and Zainah Anwar to those of Darul Arqam and SpongeBob SquarePants (allegedly). How do we define who gets to be offended and who doesn't? I'd rather leave it out of legislation altogether.

And let's be clear. Puerile and tasteless as the gag may have been, it wasn't even incitement to hatred of anyone (other than the two bloggers) and it wasn't incitement to violence. It wasn't a barely veiled threat, like the cow-head incident was, or the raising of a kris. Or an explicit threat - like those who beat up a young man who allegedly 'menghina Islam', writing the words on his body. That's a fairly explicit threat to all those who disagreed with the assailants interpretation of Islam.

So, yes, boycott the site. Write indignant letters expressing distaste, disgust and dismay. But let's steer clear of legislative action. This is a matter for the outraged citizenry, not the police or the bureaucrat.