A lurch to censorship in Malaysia
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - Abandoning a longstanding promise to maintain Internet freedom,
the Malaysian government has closed down the popular and controversial Malaysia
Today web portal, known for consistently exposing the misdeeds of officialdom
and the failings of individual leaders.
The move comes as the ruling National Front coalition suffered its worst-ever
electoral reverses in March and more recently saw the
resurgent opposition politician Anwar Ibrahim return to parliament in a recent
sweeping by-election victory.
Anwar's return comes after a decade-long absence from politics after serving
time in prison on sodomy and corruption charges. As opposition leader he has
vowed to bring down the government through parliamentary defections this month.
While the two events - electoral defeat and the silencing of online critics -
seem unconnected, civil society activists fear that the shutdown of Malaysia
Today signals a new era of intolerance towards democratic dissent, as a
politically weakened United Malays Nasional Organization-led (UMNO) government
fights to stay afloat against an Anwar-led opposition bent on political change.
"I am surprised and shocked at this onslaught against freedom," said Malaysia
Today owner Raja Petra Kamaruddin. "They had long wanted to do something and
now they have shut down the site. I am not cowed in the least, I will press on.
None of this is going to stop me."
Authorities have also raided Kamaruddin's home several times this year and
seized computers, storage files and documents over postings made to his news
and opinion portal.
The Malaysia Today website, which according to Kamaruddin averages 1.5 million
unique readers per day, is still accessible through mirror sites and new
Internet technology that tunnels around government censorship, though Internet
experts said the blockage does affect easy access.
The government said the site posted "lies and defamatory articles" and had
refused to change despite numerous reminders and warning letters. The state-run
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the country's
communications industry regulator, ordered in an official letter that all the
country's 21 Internet service providers must deny access to Malaysia Today on
August 25.
The closure is being viewed as a government attempt to curtail online criticism
of its authoritarian tendencies and perceived corrupt practices. Online media
and blogs have in recent years provided a sharp counterpoint to the
state-influenced media and many fear Malaysia Today's closure could be expanded
to include other websites critical of the government.
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who resigned five years ago, made the
open Internet promise in 1996 in an attempt to lure foreign investors to his
Multimedia Super Corridor project, a state-led attempt to develop a Silicon
Valley-like technology hub in Malaysia.
The policy pledge was not legally binding and Mahathir has recently come out
strongly against the government's decision to shut down Malaysia Today. "When a
government makes a promise to the country and then reneges on its promise, then
not only will the government lose credibility but also any respect that the
public may have for it," Mahathir wrote in his own blog, www.chedet.com, on
August 27.
"I do not often agree with Malaysia Today and with Raja Petra Kamaruddin. He
had been sometimes quite irresponsible," Mahathir wrote.
"But court action had already been taken against him. He is not above the law
and if he is found guilty there are already adequate punishments that can be
passed against [him]," Mahathir wrote in reference to the sedition and
defamation suits that have been filed and are pending against Kamaruddin.
Despite the criticism, the government has defended the move against Malaysia
Today as necessary and essential to protect public order and decency. Home
Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia Today was blocked because it published
"libelous, defamatory and slanderous" content, but that its closure should not
be viewed as an act of censorship.
Either way, the controversial move has revealed splits inside the UMNO. Several
serving ministers opposed the move to block Malaysia Today, fearing that the
perceived breach of its promise to promote Internet freedom would be a setback
to the country's international image and investment climate.
Even state-influenced mainstream media, with certain papers loyal to particular
UMNO factions, have published strongly-worded editorials condemning the move,
with some seeing it as a harbinger of more tough measures as the power struggle
for control of the government intensifies. "The shutdown is the latest
onslaught on civil liberties," said Tian Chua, information chief of the
opposition People's Justice Party.
"It is a desperate act by the authorities reeling from repeated political
defeats to curb freedom," he told Inter Press Service. "They should use normal,
acceptable legal means to seek redress if aggrieved. Not inappropriately shut
down the website. No court has yet found the website to contain seditious
contents. They should let the courts decide."
The Internet has proven a powerful tool for propaganda as well as outreach for
the political opposition, which has exploited the medium to its full advantage
ever since Anwar Ibrahim was released from prison in 2004 and began his
comeback to national politics. Opposition parties have used blogging, websites,
web-based TV and SMS text messages to mobilize the growing popular support
around its cause.
It's a phenomenon the government has so far not been able to match, although
several UMNO politicians launched their own blogs after the March elections.
The Information Ministry has also invited several prominent bloggers onto
state-controlled national television to discuss politics and issues. But those
moves haven't stopped the criticism and according to Chua "a crackdown seems to
be their answer to a phenomenon that they could not compete with".
The Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) was among those who strongly
condemned Malaysia Today's shutdown, saying it reflected how "narrow political
interests" are dictating public policies. "They should not go on a witch-hunt
in cyberspace which holds the only meaningful free space for critical
expression in Malaysia," said CIJ executive director Gayathry Venkiteswaran.
"The core issue here is that mainstream media are not reporting information
adequately, truthfully and fairly - this situation should be corrected," she
said.
The National Alliance of Bloggers also strongly condemned the government's move
away from its promise not to censor the Internet. "The breach would rattle the
confidence of investors," said the group's interim president Ahirudin Attan, a
former mainstream reporter who now runs the popular Rocky's Bru blog. "We
bloggers are upset with the backtracking by the authorities."
Jeff Ooi, a blogger-turned-politician and opposition lawmaker from the state of
Penang, said the MCMC should be an independent body and act in the interest of
all the Malaysian people.
"It should not be a tool of the authorities," he said. "This is the start of a
dangerous trend hostile to democracy."
(Inter Press Service with additions by Asia Times Online)
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