KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian government crackdown under its Sedition Act is creating a climate of fear in the country, according to rising numbers of critics who say it could stunt a recent flowering in freedom of speech.

About 40 people — mostly opposition politicians including leader Anwar Ibrahim, but also student activists, lawyers, academics and a journalist — have been investigated, charged or convicted under the act this year, activists say.

The crackdown, accelerating in recent weeks, is widely seen as an attempt by Malaysia’s longtime regime to reverse years of increasingly boisterous speech that has coincided with tremendous electoral gains by the opposition.

“It has a chilling effect,” said Ibrahim Suffian, head of independent pollster Merdeka Centre, who adds that many Malaysians are beginning to “self-censor”.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014