PENANG - Visitors to Malaysia would be
bewildered by the wide variety of newspapers, TV
channels and radio stations that cater to most of
the country's several language groups. But as
reality sinks in, it would become apparent that
despite the deceptively wide range, mainstream
media is becoming consolidated in the hands of a
small number of privately owned conglomerates with
close links to the political establishment.
Amidst this small number, one media giant
looms large over the others, quietly gobbling up
television and radio stations as it tries to
maximize its advertising revenue and overwhelm the
competition. Media Prima, the new kid on the
block, rose like a
phoenix out of the rubble of
the 1997 Asian financial crisis, created by a
de-merger exercise involving Malaysian Resources
Corporation Berhad (MRCB), owner of the
politically well-connected TV3 private television
station and the New Straits Times Press (NSTP)
group, in 2003.
The main aim of the
exercise was to restructure the debts of the
heavily leveraged TV3 and MRCB and, as part of
this, Media Prima acquired a 100% stake in TV3 and
a 43% stake in NSTP and assumed the listed status
of TV3 on the Malaysian stock exchange. In January
of last year, the group launched a second
television channel under the brand of 8TV,
offering a mix of Chinese and English-language
programs. This year, Media Prima has been busy
again. In June, the company announced that it had
acquired a 98% stake in Ch-9 Media Sdn Bhd, which
operated the now-defunct free-to-air television
station, Channel 9. The station is expected to be
relaunched next year.
Then, last month,
the firm revealed that it had entered into a
"collaboration and assistance" agreement with the
owners of the popular private television station
NTV7 and the radio station WowFM. If the deal with
NTV7 goes through, the Media Prima stable of firms
could control some 85% of discounted advertising
revenue from the country's free-to-air television
stations. And it would command 46% of all
television (including pay television) viewership,
leaving its closest rival pay-television satellite
operator, Astro, trailing at around 20-30% of
viewership.
Apart from this, Media Prima
has interests in other media-related firms,
including content creator Grand Brilliance Sdn
Bhd, event management firm Tiga Events Sdn Bhd,
and outdoor advertising firm, Right Channel Sdn
Bhd. That's not all: it recently acquired a 75%
interest in Max Airplay Sdn Bhd, the operator of
FlyFM, a radio station for the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport. "Media Prima will become
the dominant media company in Malaysia providing a
comprehensive range of services to its customers
pursuant to the proposed acquisitions," said the
firm in a presentation to investors.
But
not everyone is happy with such sweeping
acquisitions. "This is outrageous, immoral and
wrong," a reader wrote to the independent
news-portal Malaysiakini. "In developed countries,
anti-trust laws will make sure this sort of thing
does not happen. The people need to watch the news
on different, independent channels and then make
up their own minds."
Certainly, the
acquisitions will further narrow the diversity of
news and views currently available on Malaysian
television stations - not that it was all that
broad to begin with. The standard bearer in the
Media Prima group of companies is TV3, by far the
country's most popular television channel. Just
before Abdullah Badawi took over as prime minister
in November 2003, his press secretary of more than
10 years, Kamarulzaman Zainal, was appointed to
the TV3 board of directors on October 15. He was
also appointed director of TV3's news and current
affairs division.
If the past is any
guide, the range of views on offer among the
various private television stations is unlikely to
be wide, more so, if these stations come under the
same conglomerate. It is not entirely clear who
exactly owns Media Prima. Earlier this year,
Business Times carried a report stating that a
private investment company and the state pension
fund manager, the Employees Provident Fund, were
among the shareholders. "Little is known about the
private company, Gabungan Kesturi Sdn Bhd. Sources
said it is owned by Amanah Raya for and on behalf
of Bumiputera (indigenous) investors,'' the
Business Times report said, adding that the firm
had acquired about 15.7% interest in Media Prima.
Media Prima not only dominates the
television sector, it also has sizeable interests
in the print media. The conglomerate has the
largest combined circulation of newspapers,
amounting to about 50% of Malay and English
newspapers, and controls two of the top three
best-selling newspapers in Malaysia, the Malay
language Berita Harian and the fast-rising Harian
Metro. These two newspapers are read by close to
three million Malaysians out of a population of 26
million.
The third top newspaper, Utusan
Malaysia, is owned by the Utusan Melayu Group and
is also believed to have close links to the
dominant United Malays National Organization
(UMNO). Media Prima's dominance in the media
sector rivals that of Huaren Management, the
investment arm of the second-largest component
party in the ruling coalition, the Malaysian
Chinese Association. Huaren owns the top-selling
English daily, The Star; Chinese-language
newspapers Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press; and
the radio station STAR Rfm.
The big
difference is that unlike its rivals, such as
Utusan Melayu group, the Sin Chew group and
Huaren, Media Prima is the only one, apart from
Astro and the two government-owned television
stations, with interests in television. ''It
appears to be a two-pronged strategy,'' says media
analyst Mustafa Kamal Anuar. "One is to corner the
advertising market and another is to manage news
output. This would mean a narrowing of diversity
in terms of programs and of access to various
shades of opinion. It does not bode well for media
freedom and freedom of expression in the country."
