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Malaysia's Mahathir In Top 10 Enemies Of The Press
WASHINGTON, May 3 (IslamOnline) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, for the third time in a row, has made it into the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual report of the top 10 "enemies" of the press list.
In a statement released to the press Thursday, the CPJ, an international media monitoring body based in New York, said Mahathir was "openly contemptuous of press freedom" and had manipulated Malaysian media to "cement his hold on power".
In Malaysia, there is a bold move by journalists and the opposition, assisted by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), to seek more press freedom in a country where the mainstream media is strongly pro-government.
"You have to take a stand, and my view is [that] if everybody is prepared to take a stand and make the sacrifices, then change will come about. I think people should stand up for what is right," said SUHAKAM commissioner Mehrun Siraj.
"Some would have to make sacrifices, some would have to lose their jobs and others would have to lose their permits, but if you don't start at some point then it would close in tighter and tighter until there is no freedom," said the commissioner, adding that she was speaking in her personal capacity.
Siraj was speaking at a forum entitled "Press freedom at the crossroads," in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day.
For its part, the CPJ said it was concerned by plans to introduce even more stringent controls on the press and regulate the Internet, which has been serving as a mouthpiece for the opposition in Malaysia.
"Malaysian officials are now considering legislation to regulate the Internet, a crucial venue for independent news and opinion in a country where traditional media outlets are overwhelmingly controlled by Mahathir's political allies," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper.
Cooper also said that Mahathir regularly "demonizes" the foreign media for unfair reporting and that he had used the state's bureaucratic machinery to repeatedly block the circulation of international news magazines that featured articles on Malaysia.
However, observers close to the government told IslamOnline by phone that foreign organizations did not understand the point of view of the Malaysian government when it comes to press freedom.
"The press is free in Malaysia. They just have to follow the criteria that we impose, and if they violate them, the Home Ministry takes action," an observer said.
He added that it was not surprising that the Malaysian premier was considered a top 10 enemy of the press, because "the external world has a different view of the freedom of the press. We have another view. Too much press freedom can hurt the nation," he said.
Opposition supporters have launched a campaign directed at restoring the "loss of press freedom" in the country. They say the press is tele-guided by the regime in Kuala Lumpur, forced to do the "dirty job of being a vile propaganda machine for the Mahathir administration."
They urged Malaysian opposition leaders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to write a full report on the abuse of press freedom and the misuse of the mainstream media, "publicly run and financed by the people's money" to the United Nations council on the press.
"This will put added pressure on the government. The regime is currently vulnerable to such pressures and more external pressures, combined with the local demands for more press freedom, will make them relax the rules," a pro-opposition supporter said to IslamOnline.
Malaysia has several pernicious laws that serve as "guidance" to the press. One of these laws is the Printing Presses and Publication Act (PPPA), which, in the future, could be reinforced to make it more relevant to control the media.
In February, government censors delayed the clearance of two foreign news magazines, Asiaweek and the Far Eastern Economic Review.
The CPJ, founded in 1981 to monitor abuses against the press and promote press freedom around the world, said the Malaysian government used the PPPA and the Internal Security Act (ISA) to maintain a "stranglehold on the press".
"Virtually all mainstream newspapers in Malaysia are owned or controlled by parties allied with the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Alternative publications were curbed or banned last year.
"Critical journalists were threatened with prosecution. There is no independent radio news, and allies of the prime minister control all television broadcasting," the report added.
The report also stated that the government had interfered with press freedom by reducing the publication of opposition party PAS' newspaper Harakah from twice weekly to twice monthly.
It added that Harakah's editor and printer have been charged with sedition for an article published in 1999.
Mahathir is not the only leader of a majority Muslim country to make it to the infamous list. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali (President of Tunisia) also made the list.
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