Eric Paulsen, the founder of Lawyers for Liberty, was one of very few lone voices who publicly called for my charges to be dropped amidst the heated hoo-ha during my imprisonment back in July 2013 (and what guts for standing on my side when even PKR, DAP, and PAS endorsed my imprisonment). Now, hes offering to defend Ibrahim Ali against any possible sedition charges. This is what I meant by defending principles instead of defending people. We Malaysians need a paradigm shift in the way we think about politics. Eric Paulsen defends the principle that nobody should be prosecuted for words. He doesnt care if its Ibrahim Ali or Anwar Ibrahim; neither should be charged. If we believe that the Sedition Act is unjust, we should not apply it on anyone, no matter how undesirable they are. Its hypocritical and contradictory to say that its unjust to apply it on opposition members but okay to apply on pro-government actors. So many opposition supporters think that its okay for injustice to happen so long as it doesnt happen on opposition members. Frankly this inconsistent mindset must change; we shouldnt stand for parties and people, but principles (and mind you, correct principles). Again, hats off to Eric Paulsen for daring to make unpopular, politically-incorrect statements in his quest to defend free speech. He, along with Mat Sabu of PAS, deserves absolute respect for being consistent in protecting free speech irrespective of which side the actors in question belong to. Compared to people like Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng who are forever calling for Ibrahim Ali to be charged for sedition while at the same time calling for the Sedition Act to be abolished, Eric Paulsen is in a way higher league. Sadly, not many opposition politicians dare to make unpopular statements that are just sometimes necessary to advance us as a nation and a people.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 08:42:56 +0000