Open Your Eyes And Look Harapan Or Lose

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The single most insidious thing that has inhibited the media’s ability to report freely, fairly, and responsibly in Malaysia is licensing because it gives authorities the power to extinguish media organisations literally at the stroke of a pen, with no recourse.
That is why any move, such as a recent proposal from Putrajaya to licence online news portals should be opposed vigorously. This is not about platforms such as Facebook and Twitter but news portals such as Malaysiakini, Free Malaysia Today, Malay Mail, etc, and countless blogs.
Broken promise
That such a move is even being considered indicates extreme elements within the federal coalition government are getting stronger by the day, a dangerous threat to press freedom. It is also the breaking of a key promise by Pakatan Harapan to unshackle the press.
We all know how the mainstream media, which began with print, are sycophantic, pandering to the government of the day with writing not worth the paper that it is printed on and gushing about the achievements of the government of the day repeatedly. Just open the pages to satisfy yourself that it continues unabated.
Sickening article after article puts the powers that be in a good light all the time. They mute or even suppress news which shows them in a dim light. Commentaries, if they said anything, did so obliquely.
Newspaper after newspaper such as the New Straits Times, The Star, Utusan Malaysia, and many others were staggered and shocked by the outflow of their readers to get more honest and compelling news from social media, which were largely unregulated.
The fault was legislation. The Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) regulated print media, giving absolute power to the home minister to decide whether a newspaper should exist or not and who should get a licence to operate a new newspaper. 
New licences rarer than blue moon
Almost every newspaper which was given a licence was/is owned by political parties such as Umno, MCA, and MIC or owned by businesspersons who are sympathetic to one or more of these parties, or specific politicians within these parties. New licences were rarer than a blue moon.
If you want real news on controversial events and unbiased accounts of the political, economic, and financial situation of the country, you turn to social media. Some of the news outlets here operate on fairly robust journalistic principles.
But now, they want to regulate online news portals through licensing. That means if you want to set up a new news portal, you would have to get prior approval from the government, ala the PPPA, with either the home minister or the communications minister sitting in the position of judge and executor.
This from a government which most likely would not be in power today if not for online news outlets such as Malayakini which had the guts to report what was really happening and the freedom to do so.
Whatever Dr Mahathir Mohamad did as prime minister twice, he kept to his promise not to censor the internet. This Madani government, whose paramount leader Anwar Ibrahim was the butt of a controlled mainstream media which published lies about him without question, now wants to control social media! What a turnaround.
That is unprecedented for Malaysia in the digital age, which it embraced with the setting up of the Multimedia Super Corridor in 1996. In furtherance of this, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was established in 1998 with the passing of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) to regulate the industry.
The CMA is more than enough to regulate news portals. In fact, Harapan came to power in 2018 on the back of major promises that it made, including the complete repeal of the PPPA and the removal of offending and draconian provisions of the CMA which gave too much power to MCMC.
A sad spectacle
Instead, we now see the sad spectacle of this government, whose leader was vilified by a controlled press and only had some semblance of balance from brave social media portals trying to suppress social media.
When all the mainstream general media in Malaysia repeated falsehoods from then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and others about 1MDB, it was through online news portals, blogs, and other organisations that Malaysians knew of the full extent of the crime that was 1MDB.
Why does a leader who suffered before under the hands of a largely controlled press now want to control online news portals? What does he have to hide and what is he afraid of? Why is he allowing extreme elements to dictate his narrative?
Prime Minister Anwar IbrahimTime and time again history has shown that if you give too much power to authorities and handcuff and muzzle those who would be honest, it will be abused and truth will be the casualty. The defamation and other laws under the Criminal Procedure Code are more than enough to keep the press in check.
Mahathir did it, Najib did it, and truth be told, the other leaders before them did it too. If this madness for media control succeeds, you can be sure that Anwar will do it too. Just look at what is already happening.
There are accusations of selective prosecution because the attorney-general is chosen by the prime minister and holds office at his pleasure. No reforms here.
Investigations are fast sometimes and painfully slow in others, such as the whistleblower who has exposed potential crimes involving the Sabah chief minister and assemblypersons of the state. No reforms again.
The MCMC has “requested” Malaysiakini to take down videos potentially incriminating politicians. Why? How does this help or hinder police investigations? Shouldn’t the aim be to get to the root of it all, find out what transpired and bring the culprits to book as soon as possible?
In the meantime, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has denied instructing MCMC to request Malaysiakini to “immediately remove” an article and video related to the alleged Sabah corruption scandal.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil“These requests were made by police, so as not to interfere with ongoing investigations. Not from me or my deputy (Teo Nie Ching),” Fahmi told Malaysiakini.
The MCMC comes under Fahmi’s purview. Does he agree with it? If not, what is he going to do about it? And do the police have the right to ask MCMC to remove the post? Malaysiakini is seeking legal advice on this, it was reported.
Writing on the wall
There are many issues that need to be written about and discussed, and for which the government has much to account to the public. The process is aided by free and fair media, that much is clear.
Our standing on press freedom has deteriorated considerably, going down 34 places to 107 out of 180, in the World Press Index for 2024, an abysmal performance for a government claiming to want to curb corruption.
This government badly needs to go back to its reform agenda in every area instead of pandering to the extreme quarters within the coalition. The results of the last two general elections, where support for Umno continued to decline, should have shown them that’s the right path to take if they value public support. The 2022 general election saw a marked decline in support for Harapan too.
Open your eyes, Harapan, and look, or lose the next elections. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM likes this old piece of wisdom: “There is none so blind as he who would not see.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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