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舆论:保障人民,还是维护自家人?

by Yee Loon
05/04/2019
in 舆论, 言论自由
Reading Time: 1 min read
0

(Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

政治拘留者、人权律师张素兰撰文于本社英语站

只要人民行动党在位越久,严刑峻法只会越发令人窒息。

《2009年公共秩序法令》以及《2016年司法(保护)法案》就是最好例子,它们不是为了捍卫人民或司法公义,反而是保护政府免受批评。

遗憾的是,法院容许这些法规的荒谬定义:一个人也可以构成“非法集会”,行为艺术也被当作“非法游行”。没有构成任何公共财产损坏,只是张贴海报都可以被告“破坏公物”,面对监禁和罚款。

即使对于个人来说,都没有言论自由的空间,这种恶法还可以糟糕到什么程度?

就在今年4月1日愚人节,律政部长提呈长达81页的《防止网络假信息和网络操纵法案》,在国会一读,不过他可没在开玩笑。

这是有史以来,但恐怕不会是最后一次,所有的部长和他们的政府机构同侪、公务员,只要冠以“主管当局”之名,就可以正正当当地对着所有个人、媒体机构、网络平台指点江山,发出更正指示修改他们所谓的真相。

只要他们相信任何影像、文章或贴文“违反公共利益”,就可以下令撤下、封锁之。

“公共利益”的定义如此广泛,连“导致公众对任何政府机构的信心减弱”都得严加防范。

甚至这些部长或公务员不需要聆听相关人员或机构的解释,就可以发出指示,“违规者”要做的,就只能服从,否则面对严苛的罚款或坐牢刑罚。但是,若当权者决策时有判断失误,却不必然要负责。

虽然在防止假消息法条文中,有提及个人如果不满意部长发出的更正指示,可以对部长上诉。可是又有哪位部长愿意承认自己的判断失误?

律政部长还坚称,法庭会是最终的仲裁者,但依据司法的精神,为何不把法庭的裁决权限放在首位或至少第二位?

为何先绕过司法的仲裁,反而赋予部长裁决的权力?遵守指示期间,也只是浪费时间和金钱。我很怀疑任何明智的人会上诉到法庭,所以此法的目的,有意拖垮信息发布者,让他最终妥协并遵守指示。向部长上诉,也只会陷入冗长的等候调查过程。

更令人不安的是,就算当事者服从更正指示,只要部长认为有必要追究,他也可能会面对其他的法律诉讼。

“违法者”可面对两万元至100万元的罚款,若不遵从指示每日罚款高达两万元;面对1年至10年的刑罚和没收收入。但是,部长和公务员的疏失却可以豁免于民事诉讼和索赔。

这项法令是偏驳的,部长或人民公仆,反而成了我们的主子。

说白了,防止假消息法就是要让所有国人、机构乃至外国异议者噤声,我们的部长希望向世界证明,即使我们只是“小红点”,却足够强大到影响视界。国人对他们来说,都只不过是数字统计而已。

预料防止假消息法毫无意外会在下一次国会召开时通过,也不需要在经过特选委员会聆听,因为去年同样的听证会已经浪费了许多时间。在来届选举之前,此法必会生效,只要冠以“公共利益”之名,对付那些可能扼杀公众对政府信心的言行,想必十分有效。

国人必须找到创新的方法来避开法律掐制,否则我们只能逆来顺受。如果我们选择后者,只能预期还有更多压迫性的法律会出台,食髓知味,当权者的胃口会只会越来越大。

至于那些大企业呢?不知他们能否经受得起白衣男女的冲击?

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