People are the boss

Free Speech. Information Access. Empowerment.

Malaysians’ Demands on World Press Freedom Day

3 May 2008

Preamble

Two years ago, in an unprecedented move, 37 civil society organisations and almost 100 individuals signed a statement calling for the abolition of the Printing Presses and Publications Act and to institute other reforms in the legal and political environments to enable the media to operate freely and independently in Malaysia.

The statement was signed in disappointment of the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s failed promise of fighting corruption and upholding political integrity and accountability when he took office in 2003.

The call for a free press fell unfortunately to deaf ears but it has only grown louder two years later as the Barisan Nasional learned painfully on March 8. To our disappointment, the setback in the 12th general elections has failed to remind PM Abdullah the nation’s thirsting desire for a free press.

He promised reform in the judiciary and reform of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) but unfortunately nothing about reform of the media law. Even more disappoitingly, the Home Ministry has recently rejected the application for the publication permit renewal by an outspoken Tamil daily Makkal Osai before approving its appeal a week later. The Ministry still withholds the renewal of a relatively independent Chinese daily, Oriental Daily.

Is it any surprise that Malaysia ranks 141 amongst 195 countries surveyed in the 2008 Global Press Freedom Rankings released by the Freedom House on April 29? Does the government not feel ashamed that our country is placed at the bottom 30% in the world on press freedom? Keep reading →

Here’s a good piece to help understand our constitutional monarchy and the parliament by a scholar-politician.

Excerpt: “Although the our King’s Royal Address is made by the monarch, the content of the speech is entirely drafted by the Malaysian government and approved by the cabinet and details the government’s policies and possibly the Bills it will introduce in the next session. This is explicitly manifested in the ceremony of submission of the text by the prime minister to the monarch.”

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Imagine a parliamentarian is called Buffalo by one of his/her colleagues.

He stands up and replies: “All of us here are of the same species. If  I am a buffalo, so are you, the honourable speaker, your party whip and all your party colleagues. I will therefore leave it to them to decide if you should retract your unparliamentary expressions and apologize. If you sincerely believe that they are a herd of buffaloes, be my guest to continue calling me a buffalo.”

Game? I think it is more about wit.

BN and PR must outdo each other in democratising Malaysia

And media laws reform must be made one of the top priorities in the
renewed deMahathirisation drive alongside the reforms of the
judiciary, electoral system and process, ACA, police and other
institutions.

Keep reading →

For the Freedom House’s report, table and charts,

visit http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=1.

For activities in Malaysia organized by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), visit

http://worldpressfreedomday.blogspot.com/

May 3: Towards Ethical Media- Speakers’ Profile

Zainon Ahmad

ZAINON Ahmad is the political editor and consultant editor of theSun. Before joining theSun in 2002, he was the assistant group editor of the New Straits Times. Zainon also conducts training for jounalists and serves as media consultant in Malaysia and abroad. He was a visiting fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Boston, and holds a masters degree in history. His column, What They Say appears every alternate Tuesday in theSun.

Jacqueline Ann Surin

Jacqueline Ann Surin’s 14 years experience in journalism first started in The Star newspaper. In 2003, she joined The Edge as a business and economic writer and rose to be the assistant news editor of its sister publication, theSun in 2006. She and two other colleagues started malaysiavotes.com, a news portal dedicated to the reporting of the 12th General Election. Jacqueline is the winner of the Society of Publishers’ Excellence in Opinion Writing Award in 2007.

Gayathry Venkiteswaran was a journalist in The Sun for five years and was thrown into media activism as a result of a retrenchment exercise in 2002. She joined CIJ in 2002 as editor for the RadiqRadio project and took over as CIJ director in 2003 and as the Executive Director in 2007. She has also been a lecturer in two private colleges and worked with an international body as a communications manager. She has her first degree in journalism from Universiti Sains Malaysia and a Masters in International Relations from the Australian National University.

May 4: Towards Media Law Reform-Speakers’ Profile

Teo Nie Ching
Teo Nie Ching is the new member of Parliament for Serdang, and one of the eight-member team of MPs to table the Freedom of Information Act Bill in the parliament. Nie Ching is a lawyer and has been active in politics and human rights issue. Politics runs deep in her family. Her father was the secretary of the DAP Labis Campaign Committee, and her sister and brother-in-law are the Chair and the Deputy Chair of DAPSY in Labis respectively. In 2007 Nie Ching represented a UM student who was charged under the UUCA for political involvement and the Malacca pig farmers in the community’s controversy with the state government. Nie Ching was also the commentator for AiFM and had a column in Nanyang Siang Pau.

Andrew Khoo Chin Hock
Andrew Khoo is the Bar Council’s Co-Deputy Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, having joined the Bar in 2006. He has been a practicing lawyer for 13 years, specializing in commercial and corporate laws and has a law firm of his own.

HR Dipendra
HR Dipendra has been a lawyer for eight years. A passionate believer in freedom of expression, Dipendra was part of the Southeast Asia Media Defense Network initiated by the Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) and University of Oxford. He is currently the chairperson of the Kuala Lumpur Young Lawyers Committee. Dipendra has an LLB from the University of London and master in law from the London School of Economics.

Moderator: Wong Chin Huat
Wong Chin Huat is the chairperson of the Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI), a position he held since 2006. His involvement media freedom activism began in 2001, during the take over of Nanyang Siang Pau and the China Press by MCA. He was in the Committee Against Takeover (CAT) formed in response to the crisis. Prior to that he was the feature writer for Nanyang covering politics, social and cultural issues. Wong is pursuing his PhD in comparative democratization at the University of Essex and now lectures in journalism in Monash University, KL.

WAMI Press Statement - May 1, 2008

Malaysia’s shameful ranking amongst the World’s bottom 30% in Press Freedom

Malaysia has for four consecutive years ranked amongst the world’s bottom 30% countries in respecting press freedom, as revealed in the Freedom House’s Global Press Freedom Rankings released by on April 29.

Writer Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) stresses that media freedom must be made amongst the top priority in the post-March 8 democratization agenda.

A road map and a time table for media law reform must be decided through dialogues and consultations involving the Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat and the Civil Society. Institutionally, a parliamentary select committee will be the best vehicle for such deliberation.

Keep reading →

Rustam A Sani (1944-2008）
Obituary: Rustam A. Sani
By Jomo K. S. 4/24/08

I write this in haste from afar without the benefit of any reference material. But I must do so, as I have lost another brother, taken away before his time.

I first met Rustam, soon after joining the UKM economics faculty in early 1977, then still at its temporary campus in Pantai. The crammed facilities in the PKNS flats there forced a certain physical closeness which was, in turn, conducive to generating close personal relations.

Rustam was then in the Anthropology and Sociology Department with Halim Ali, Sanusi Osman, Hood Salleh, Dahlan Hj Aman, Ting Chew Peh, Cheu Hock Tong, Shamsul Amri and others, many of whom had been students of Syed Husin Ali at the University of Malaya in the 1960s.

Struggle for the Nation

Born towards the end of the Japanese Occupation in the Perak border town of Tanjung Malim, Rustam grew up in the shadow of his famous father, Abdullah Sani @ Ahmad Boestamam.

As a mature student at university, Rustam quickly established a reputation in his own right as an essayist, poet and pamphleteer in the Socialist Club and promoting the national language at the University of Malaya. He often joked that if he had agreed to run in the May 1969 election, he would have become Selangor Mentri Besar at the age of 25!
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We must congratulate Makkal Osai for getting its publication permit renewed after suspension for a week.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Syed Albar said the appeal against the refused renewal was successful because “they have given an undertaking of responsibility and will ensure they abide by the guidelines and contribute to our nation-building efforts”.

It reminds me of a scene where the poor petty trader is allowed to be back in business after he paid the protection fee.

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Many people wonder if Section 25(1) of PPPA can allow a newspaper exempted by a state government to be circulated nationwide. I believe the answer is yes. Below is my take on the technicality. Not trained in law, I am happy to be corrected by the well-learned amongst you.

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After banning Makkal Osai, the Minister of Home Affairs Syed Hamid Syed Albar now talk about reviewing the Printing Presses and Publication Act.

This is a good development, although we must not take it as a promise that will certainly get fulfilled. Concerned citizens should understand how the law suppresses our media freedom so that we may monitor the development well.

Keep reading →