University of Malaya Association of New Youth (UMANY)

Freedom of speech refers to the right of individuals or associations to express their opinions and ideas, its similar nature includes but is not exhaustive of press freedom, academic freedom and freedom of assembly. In Malaysia, our freedom of speech is guaranteed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the Federal Constitution. However, due to ignorance and a total unawareness of its importance and significance, the public in general keep a casual attitude on the need for freedom of speech. Ever since the ‘Sheraton Move’, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government intensified its suppression on freedom of speech in the country. Several rising right-wingers are also actively promoting conservativeness among the people, partnering with the PN government to quash voices of dissent. In addition to those who were targeted by the right-wingers, including UMANY, members of the civil society, the opposition party and minority groups, there was also the local film di...

On 1 December 2020, the Minister at Prime Minister's Department, also the Member of Parliament for Alor Gajah, Mohd Redzuan answered in the parliament that only doctors, nurses and other medical personnel dealing directly with Covid-19 high-risk groups will receive a one-off payment amounting RM300, while hospital cleaners will not receive the payment although also they had been working on the front-line.[1] The hospital cleaners are not directly employed by the Ministry of Health but outsourced to a private contractor named UEM Edgenta. Under this system, the hospital cleaners are not considered front-line personnel. The hospital cleaners are also prone to exploitations, for instance, the contractor had harassed and bullied their union members and refused to distribute personal protection equipment (PPE) to them. [2][3] The government had clearly ignored the hospital cleaners that worked on the front-line along with the medical personnel, as they are responsible for cleaning the h...