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Malaysia To Tighten Press Laws
by Kazi Mahmood
for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Malaysia's government said on Monday it might amend its own media law to make the legislation more effective in a bid to curb both local and international criticism.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the government would study existing laws to make them more relevant and effective. This may also affect the Printing Presses and Publication Act.
He said the Act itself might not be very effective, thus his government would find ways to restore is relevancy, the Bernama national news agency reported. Any changes to the act would not point towards unlimited press freedom, Mahathir added.
Opposition parties on Saturday submitted a 10-point memorandum to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) urging it to discuss with the government the possibility of having greater freedom of the press.
The Printing Presses and Publications Act bans the publication of "malicious news" and empowers the government to ban or restrict the circulation of local publications.
Last year, the government severely curbed the circulation of the opposition party newspaper Harakah.
However, Mahathir made it clear that he does not want Malaysia to have presses like those in other countries, who tell lies, fabricate stories, provoke people and do not provide a fair picture.
Mahathir said foreign media could do anything it liked - including fabricating stories or presenting half-truths - and escape punishment.
"For example, they may report that there is a lot of rioting in Malaysia when in fact, it is a very rare incident limited to one place only," he said.
The aging Prime Minister has lambasted the international press for not caring about accuracy when reporting about Malaysia in the hopes "that this would deter foreign investment."
The Malaysian government was critical of reports in the international press over clashes that broke out last month in an urban area near Kuala Lumpur causing the death of six people.
In February, government censors began delaying the clearance for sale of both Asiaweek and the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Mahathir's government has for years fiercely criticized the Western media for alleged biased and inaccurate reporting. But between the 1980s and this year, the government made no overt moves to suppress the operation or curb sales of foreign news media, the AFP wrote.
Meanwhile, students said they planned to submit a protest memorandum to Mahathir on Tuesday as he officially opens a university campus.
Sources said student supporters of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim would appeal in the memo for him to be allowed surgery overseas for a back problem.
The memo would also protest last week's detention without trial of seven pro-Anwar activists and appeal for their release, sources said.
Mahathir will officially open the main campus of the International Islamic University in the suburb of Gombak. He laid the foundation stone in 1993.
Anwar, a fiery Islamic youth leader in the 1970s, was president of the University from 1988 until he was sacked by Mahathir in September 1998 and subsequently jailed.
Anwar is serving a total of 15 years in jail after being convicted in separate trials of abuse of power and sodomy. He has been in hospital since November with a slipped disc. A foreign specialist recommends an operation at a specialist clinic overseas.
The government insists that Anwar receive surgery in a local hospital, with specialists and equipment flown in if necessary.
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