My father was at almost every ceramah, says Syahredzan

INTERVIEW | Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan is not afraid to take the path less travelled but when news broke that the son of former Utusan Melayu chief editor Johan Jaffar had joined DAP, it did beg the question of how the senior gentleman might take the news.

As Syahredzan (above) told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview, he wasn’t so sure himself how the news would be received but he can now count his father among his strongest supporters.

“When I first joined a political party, namely the DAP in 2018 just before the general election, I didn’t tell anyone, just my wife and close friends. It wasn’t something that I announced. But then I was appointed political secretary to Lim Kit Siang and that’s when the news broke.

“So a lot of people were at the very least curious but I must say that, at the time, I did think my dad might not want me to join politics. But when I did join politics, he had no issue with it, or with my joining DAP.

“He gave full support and when I told my parents that I might be running in GE15, my father and mother both came for nomination day. My father came for each and every ceramah every night, except for one when he had another event. He made time to give me support.

“I’m really thankful that I have the backing of immediate family members and extended family members. I must also mention the support from my wife. At times it seems quite stressful and quite difficult, especially during the campaigning period and the personal attacks, my wife was there all the time and gave me strength to just push on and finish the race,” said the first-time MP.

A lawyer by training, Syahredzan is hoping for some positive legislative reforms in the coming months and years.

“I think many people do understand that this is not a Harapan government. So a lot of the reform agenda in our manifesto may be quite difficult to push through.

“But there are things which we can find consensus with others participating in the government. For example, separating the public prosecutor’s office and the Attorney-General’s Chambers. Amending the citizenship laws when it comes to children with Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers, for a start.

“I think that we can find a consensus to actually, at the very least, relook at laws such as Section 223 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which criminalises online content that is ‘obscene, indecent, false, menacing, or offensive in character’.

“I think it’s something which affects not just Harapan, it has also affected people in other political parties as well,” he argued.

He said these are laws that can be abused because the interpretation is too wide.

“I would like to see Section 223 not be completely abolished but amended, especially in terms of what is considered offensive posts, posts that are threatening. You still need legislation but when it comes to general offensive posts, which are not even defined in the law, with the intent to annoy, that’s where it’s too wide and can be used in relation to political interests instead of societal interests,” he said.

Death penalty abolition

When it comes to the abolition of the death penalty or at least the removal of mandatory death sentences, Syahredzan has seen his views change over the years.

“My personal view has gone through a shift. Previously, I wasn’t sure. It’s a gradual process where at first I thought that for certain crimes, you still need the death penalty. But as I got involved with activism, my view now is that the state should not have any right to take away a person’s life.

“You know, the state is there to actually protect lives. When you give the state the ability to take away life, it becomes problematic. At the same time, I realise that pushing for the total abolition of the death penalty takes education and awareness because a lot of people are still for the death penalty for certain crimes, especially murder and even drug trafficking.

“There’s quite a lot of strong sentiments and we cannot push aside these concerns. It takes a lot of discourse. The recent announcement that we are looking at taking away the mandatory death penalty for certain offences is welcomed.

“I think giving the power back to the judges to decide on whether to mete out a death sentence is at least a step in the right direction,” he said.

While freedom of speech is a principle dear to his heart, Syahredzan is not opposed to legislation that can clamp down on hate speech and incitement. He said some sort of legislation in terms of racial and religious hatred needs to be put in place but only if the Sedition Act is abolished.

“Where do you draw the line between free speech and hate speech? Being racist in itself shouldn’t be made a crime. But at the same time, if you are promoting religious hate or racial hate, and this actually threatens national security and harmony, then the law should step in.

“Right now, we already have the Sedition Act so we don’t need another law to basically restrict speech. I think that’s just giving too much power to the state.

“So you abolish the Sedition Act and replace it with a law for the specific purpose of cutting out religious and racial extremism, and we need to make it so that there’s no room for any abuse by the authorities. Although, I must say that to actually ban political parties that use race and religion, I wouldn’t want to go that far,” he said.

An unexpected detour

This writer first met Syahredzan in 2010 when bringing him on board as a columnist for The Star, with both making a shift to Malaysiakini in 2019. When they first met, such a transition to electoral politics was not on the cards, Syahredzan recalled.

“At that time, I didn’t think I would make the jump to politics but there came a point where I realised that in order for there to be meaningful change, you need to change the people who make the laws.

“So that’s why I decided that I wanted to try and change the people who make the laws. It took some time and it wasn’t an easy decision. But in hindsight, I suppose it was quite a natural decision to make the jump into politics.

“The younger me had this very negative view of politics and politicians and, in fact, it might have been reflected in my articles at that time. But as I became older, I realised that you needed politics in order to make changes.

“That doesn't mean you don’t need NGOs and other organisations which push for a certain agenda, and also work with people on the ground. But from my point of view, I wanted to have a bigger platform in order to push for reforms to be implemented, that’s why I made the jump,” he said.

While being a lawyer and an MP is serious business, Syahredzan does have a lighter side, with a passion for video games.

“I love video games but now I'm increasingly finding it difficult to have time to play video games, especially Japanese role-playing games like Final Fantasy. I love that sort of story-based and character-development game but those games actually take about 50 to 60 hours to complete and I don’t have that sort of time.

“So I find that the easier way is just to play fighting games where you switch on and off and you don’t need to be able to know how to get the full armour or the best weapons, and things like that. So I suppose that’s one of the things I had to give up when I decided to embark on this new role of mine,” he said.

This is part three of a three-part interview.

Part one: Syahredzan: Unexpected results real chance for M'sia to move forward

Part two: Bangi MP comes to grips with M'sia's most populous constituency

Bangi MP comes to grips with M'sia's most populous constituency

Syahredzan: Unexpected results real chance for M'sia to move forward

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