Nadyaa Afiqah Binti Azerin

Akta Hasutan 1948: the Vanguard of Malaysia’s Colonial Trauma

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2026, №2(71), 159-174

 
Annotation: The Sedition Act has been a permanent fixture in Malaysia’s legal system, acting as a censorship tool to curb criticism against the ruling government. While its initial goal was to counter pro-Communist sentiments during the Malayan insurgency (1948-1960), it has since been adapted to fit the current needs of the country after its independence in 1957. One of those needs include the maintenance of Malaysia’s colonial trauma, which manifested through the implementation of affirmative action policies that would ensure Malay privileges and status within the country. As the Sedition Act persecutes criticism towards those policies, its apparent omnipresence acted as a deterrence from initiating productive discourse, which would prevent the process of working through colonial trauma. This deterrence created a monopoly on the narrative pertaining to Malaysia’s colonial past, which continued to transmit memory of colonial trauma through postmemory, leading to the maintenance of said trauma to the next generation.

Keywords: Sedition Act, Colonial trauma, postmemory, colonial legacy, collective memory