(Petaling Jaya, Friday): Three
years ago, when Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was first appointed Deputy
Prime Minister and Home Minister, there were hopes that he would accord priority
to restore public confidence in the institutions of government by giving the
Home Ministry a human face, including loosening up and removing the press
controls in the country to usher an
era of free, fair and responsible press
in Malaysia.
This
was why on the occasion of the
World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 1999, some 600 journalists in Malaysia - which
grew to over 1,000 journalists the following World Press Freedom Day 2000 -
presented a memorandum to Abdullah calling for the repeal of the Printing
Presses and Publications Act and
other repressive laws fettering the development of a free and responsible press.
Abdullah
had given a solemn undertaking to the Malaysian journalists that he would give
their memorandum serious consideration. What
is the outcome of such serious consideration after four World Press Freedom Days
from 1999 to 2002?
There
had been no policy pronouncements from Abdullah but Malaysian journalists, civil
society and citizenry are entitled to be alarmed that there is not only no
loosening and removal of the press controls, but the reverse after the
September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States has taken place, as
highlighted by the blackout in the
mainstream electronic and English/Malay print media
of news of the anniversary
hunger strike by the six reformasi activists detained under the Internal
Security Act demanding for public trial or immediate release and widespread
criticisms and protests over the appointment of former Attorney-General Tan Sri
Abu Talib Othman as the new Suhakam Chairman, the dropping of the three most
industrious, conscientious and committed Suhakam Commissioners and the stacking
of the new appointees with former civil servants and a serving public employee.
The
three-month suspension with immediate efect
imposed by the Home Ministry under the Printing Presses and Publications
Act on the weekly tabloid Perdana
Sari on the eve of the World Press Freedom Day 2002 have brought to the fore
what is wrong with the vast and repressive
press control powers of the government.
The
reason for the Home Ministry suspension of Perdana Sari was its sensational
allegation of misconduct against Puteri UMNO protem chief, Azalina Othman.
I
am no advocate or defender of Perdana Sari or its publisher and chief editor,
Khalid Jafri, the author of the book 50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Tidak Boleh
The
Home Ministry action against Perdana Sari however raises several public interest
issues. Firstly, if the Home
Ministry is of the view that Perdana Sari had been irresponsible in its
reporting, why Perdana Sari or Khalid Jafri had not been charged in court for
the offence of “false news” under the Printing Presses and Publications Act.
Secondly,
is the Home Ministry setting a precedent where it would take action, including
immediate suspensions against national dailies and publications, if they publish
“sensational” allegations against political leaders, whether in government or opposition without the
application of double standards?
Without
going into the rights and wrongs of
the Perdana Sari allegations, the Home Ministry’s three-month suspension
raises serious questions about press controls which must concern not only
journalists but the civil society as well.
One human rights area which had been
sorely neglected by Suhakam, in its
first two-year term under the chairmanship of Tan Sri Musa Hitam, was on the
freedom of speech, expression and the press.
The
time has come for Suhakam to give a special focus on the freedom of speech and
expression, whose importance is testified by their description as the “mother
of all freedoms”, in its statutory responsibility to protect and promote human
rights.
Towards
this objective, Suhakam should set up a fifth
Working Group on Press Freedom to arrest the alarming erosion of the
rights to freedom of speech, expression and the press particularly in the past
year, to receive and investigate complaints by journalists as well as Malaysians
of violations of press freedom as well as freedom of speech and expression.
The
Parliamentary Secretary to the Information Ministry, Zainuddin Maidin said
yesterday that Malaysia’s media
practitioners should not be “the
dog of western media imperialists”. I can agree with Zainuddin on this, but is
Zainuddin prepared to agree that this should not be an excuse for them to become
“the dog of local media oppressors”?
(3/5/2002)