“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment of the United States Federal Constitution (above) is what makes “free speech” in the US so unique, even when compared to other countries in the West. The First Amendment makes it incredibly difficult (or impossible) to clamp down on hate speech, but it also arguably is one of the reasons why America is seen by many as the bastion of creativity and innovation.
On the third episode of What If Malaysia, BFM 89.9 speaks with Nalini Elumalai, Malaysia Program Officer, ARTICLE 19 and Wathshlah Naidu, Executive Director, Centre For Independent Journalism, on what Malaysia could look like if we had freedom of speech just like the US.
Source: BFM 89.9
