Federal Constitution
Federal Constitution of Malaysia
Perlembagaan Persekutuan
Constitution
What this does to artists
Article 10(1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech and expression, and Article 10(2)(a) lets Parliament restrict it on grounds including security, public order and morality. Every censorship and speech statute below is an exercise of that power, so every challenge to one starts here. Article 5 (liberty), Article 8 (equality) and Article 13 (property) do the rest of the constitutional work in arts cases.
The Ninth Schedule is why there is no single national answer on entertainment licensing, Syariah offences or local by-laws: those sit on the State List.
What to read first
Section numbers read out of the AGC text itself
Where this one bites
Post a set, reel or performance video
Uploading is reproduction and communication to the public, and then four separate speech regimes sit on top of…
ScenarioBusk or perform in the street
The rule that decides whether you can play is almost always your own council's by-law, and nobody publishes th…
ScenarioPaint a mural or install work in public space
Your copyright survives on someone else's wall. What the owner may then do to it is the fight.…
ScenarioStopped, raided, shut down or arrested
This is a frightening place to be, and it usually has more give in it than it feels like. Most of these turn o…
Read the law
Source of record · lom.agc.gov.my/federal-constitution.php
This page is published by ALIM (Art × Law Initiative Malaysia) as general legal information for Malaysia’s creative communities. It is not legal advice. It does not take your circumstances into account, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship with ALIM or with anyone associated with it.
The law changes. Each Act reproduced here is the Attorney General’s Chambers’ consolidated reprint and carries the date it was consolidated to; amendments made after that date do not appear in the text, and the authoritative version of any Malaysian law is the one published in the Federal Gazette. Subsidiary legislation, state enactments and local authority by-laws may also apply to your situation and are largely outside this library.
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