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By Mihar Dias August 2025
If you’ve ever felt the sudden urge to post something sarcastic online — maybe about potholes that outlive governments, or ministers who appear allergic to accountability — but held back because you feared running afoul of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, rejoice.
The Court of Appeal has just handed Malaysians a rare gift: the freedom to annoy. https://newswav.com/A2508_HwZKkx?s=A_Mh9uELN&language=en
Yes, it is no longer a crime in Malaysia to post something online with the intention to “annoy” or “offend.” https://newswav.com/A2508_HwZKkx?s=A_Mh9uELN&language=en
For once, the law has decided that your auntie’s Facebook rants, your cousin’s TikTok parodies, or your own caustic remarks about politics aren’t criminal material simply because someone, somewhere, had declared themselves offended.
For years, Section 233 has been the Swiss army knife of censorship — broad, blunt, and wielded selectively. It criminalised being “offensive” and having the “intent to annoy” without bothering to define what those words meant.
As Justice Lee Swee Seng pointed out, truth itself can be annoying. That is, what one person considers offensive is often another person’s breakfast entertainment. https://newswav.com/A2508_HwZKkx?s=A_Mh9uELN&language=en
After all, one man’s meat is another man’s poison — yet under Section 233, poison was whatever the authorities said it was.
The judgment makes the obvious point our lawmakers never seemed to grasp: what is “offensive” to one person is perfectly ordinary to another.
Malaysians are a diverse bunch. Some find political cartoons hilarious, others find them blasphemous. Some are upset by satire, others by karaoke versions of old P. Ramlee's songs.
If every annoyance were a crime, our prisons would be overflowing — not with the corrupt or the violent, but with teenagers on Twitter.
More importantly, the court recognised the danger of sanitising speech until it is stripped of all truth. Without this ruling, Malaysians would be reduced to mouthing government-approved pleasantries, terrified of stepping on anyone’s delicate sensitivities.
Democracy requires discomfort; truth is rarely polite.
Of course, before we celebrate, let’s remember: this ruling only applies to ongoing and future cases. Past victims of Section 233 — the ones dragged through years of legal battles for daring to post the obvious — don’t get their justice back.
Yes, the government still has the option of appealing to the Federal Court. If Putrajaya feels its grip on thin-skinned politics slipping, don’t be surprised if it does.
For now, though, we can allow ourselves a small smile. Malaysia’s judiciary has said plainly: free speech cannot be held hostage to someone else’s feelings.
Annoyance is not a crime. Being offended is not a right.
So, the next time you fire off a post pointing out the emperor has no clothes, take heart. You’re on solid legal ground. And if your words still manage to annoy? Good. That’s called democracy.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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