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Calls For Press Freedom In Malaysia
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - This month, Malaysian journalists and opposition politicians are pushing hard for more press freedom and freedom of expression in the country, currently controlled by tight rules, they state.
Local journalists working for the mainstream government controlled media said last week they were pressing authorities to accept recommendations supported in a memorandum sent to the Deputy Prime Minister in 1999.
On May 3rd, the world will celebrate Press Freedom Day. In Malaysia, the opposition and several non-governmental organizations (NGO) will campaign for press freedom awareness in the country.
Malaysia's state control over the mainstream media came under attack last week in Geneva when a Malaysian human rights activist said that free media did not exist in the country.
Elizabeth Wong told delegates at the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission in Switzerland that Malaysian government claims that free media exists in the country because small and limited alternative media are allowed to publish, is misleading.
"The handful that survives continues to face a variety of political harassment from time to time, including problems hampering circulation, printing and distribution," she argued.
Politicians, journalists and NGOs seem to agree with her statement, saying that Malaysia should free up the mainstream media, and that the opposition, and other government critics, should have access to local press.
Controlled by the Ministry of Information, Malaysia has historically maintained a tight grip on the local press. The national television stations and local presses, as well as radio stations, fall directly under the ministry.
Licenses are obtained within a tightly controlled system set up by the Home Ministry for the publication of non-daily political and party newsletters or newspapers.
Extreme measures are also taken to curb party and political newspapers if they fail to adhere to the strict Home Ministry rules.
A group of local journalists, who led a petition calling for press freedom in the country, were rebuffed on claims that Malay senior journalists supported their call for more press freedom.
The group said some 1000 local journalists, mostly those working in the local press, signed a memorandum that was submitted to Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 1999. The Minister accepted the petition but said he could not accede to the demands of the journalists.
He argued that journalists should show more maturity and responsibility, and only then would the government decide on allowing more freedoms.
The memorandum made news last week when a senior member of the Information Ministry denied that several Malay journalists signed the petition.
Information Ministry parliamentary secretary Zainuddin Maidin claimed that no Malay journalist signed the memorandum.
The memorandum itself asks for the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publication Act of 1984. The government is urged to abolish the Act in the memorandum, including "the arbitrary and absolute powers of the Home Ministry over the local press".
Members of the group of journalists who signed the memorandum said "the statement by Zainuddin Maidin [denying Malay journalists signed the petition] was inaccurate because there were many senior Malay journalists who signed the memorandum."
They believe the official was trying to prove that Malay journalists were supportive of the current regime in Kuala Lumpur who would not sign any petition undermining the authorities.
The memorandum also questions the eroding credibility of the mainstream media tagged by the opposition as being part of the government propaganda machine.
Responding to opposition claims, journalists working for the local press, feeling their integrity was questioned, signed the memorandum in order to express their independence, sources said.
The political crisis following the sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has brought the mainstream media under intense pressure, losing a large share of its readership.
In her speech in Geneva, Wong said that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was quoted by Bernama as saying that "these people behave like traitors" and that "people who love Malaysia would not support a website like the Malaysiakini."
Wong was referring to a Malaysian Internet news portal that came under fire from the government over alleged funding from Jewish billionaire businessman George Soros. Mahathir has blamed Soros for the 1997 economic crash in Asia.
Wong also blasted the government for delaying the distribution of foreign news publications such as Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek.
She also said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar warned local staff of foreign news media not to be "unpatriotic" and complained about the banning last year of independent publications and the slashing of the permit of Harakah, the fledging Islamic party (PAS) tabloid.
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