Global IssuesMEDIA-MALAYSIA: Censorship Taking A Religious Turn, Critics Say
For many Malaysian journalists these days, it has become very tricky to draw a clear line between commenting critically on an issue and offending a particular community and thus threatening social order.
It has also become a risky matter after print journalists and columnists have come under fire for criticising aspects of ‘shariah’ law in this mainly Muslim country.
Coming from a powerful political family provided little protection for Marina Mahathir, the daughter of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who writes a column for the English-language daily ‘The Star’. On Mar. 3, her ‘Musings’ column — which questioned the caning of three women after a sentence given by ‘shariah’ court — was censored.
Mahathir posted the piece on her blog under the title ‘The Column that Wasn’t’ the next day. She questioned the transparency, fairness and wisdom of some ‘shariah’ laws and the February sentence. 'Who knew until recently that people could get caned for drinking, or for having a baby out of wedlock until the recent cases of Kartika (Sari Dewi Shukarnor) and the three women?' she asked.
The three women were caned on Feb. 9 for engaging in ‘illicit sex’, news reports said. They were the first women in Malaysia to receive such punishment under ‘Shariah’ law in this traditionally moderate Muslim country of more than 28 million people. Controversy surrounds these cases because Malaysian federal law excludes women from being caned.
Kartika’s sentence, which was for being caught drinking beer, has not yet been carried out.
Mahathir said that ‘shariah’ laws whose intent, processes and enforcement were unfair 'only give the impression that Islam is unjust and discriminatory,' she wrote. 'Surely to give such an image of Islam is a sin.'
Apart from Mahathir, ‘The Star’ daily columnist and managing editor P Gunasegaram also wrote about the caning sentence and was questioned by the police for his article that came out on Feb. 19.
The English-language daily, which was banned for about six months in the late 1980s for reporting news that reportedly caused racial animosity, was issued a ‘show cause’ letter by government authorities. This letter compels a media organisation to justify why its publishing permit should not be revoked.
'Oppression and suppression of media and free speech is a growing phenomenon in the country,' human rights advocate Nasir Hashim said in an interview.
A day after Gunasegaram’s column came out, ‘The Star’ published an apology saying that it 'will be more strict with the columnist' and 'there was no intention to insult or offend Muslims' through his article.
Senior Home Ministry official Abdul Razak Abdul Latif, however, said the ministry has found that the column 'threatened public order'. No final decision has been made on the case.
Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said, 'The columnist (Gunasegaram) was merely speaking the obvious. He stated that women were exempted from caning under the civil law and Islamic law must comply with the exemption.'
Some see the government’s moves as the result of pressure from Muslim conservatives and its desire to score points with its political base among the Malays, who make up some 55 percent of the population and are mostly Muslim. Twenty-five percent of Malaysians are Chinese, 12 percent indigenous peoples, and nearly 8 percent are Indians.
Many officials of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (National Front) also endorsed the caning sentence.
'The entrenched classes are shaken by recent political losses. Increased oppression indicates they are trying to regain control,' said Hashim, the president of the Socialist Party of Malaysia. He was referring to the fact that the Barisan Nasional government has been losing key figures in recent months to opposition parties.
'They (authorities) seem to want to whip up Malay anger against political moderates,' added a political scientist with the National University of Malaysia, who requested anonymity. 'They are restraining moderates and seem to encourage extremists for political gain.'
The academic said the strategy is to get the majority of Malays to think that they would lose status and privileges unless they support the Malay- dominated government. Governments have usually used the affirmative- action ‘bumiputra’ policy toward ethnic Malays as a way of keeping this support.
'They don’t want to see the different races coming together in moderation and mutual understanding,' the academic told IPS. 'The entrenched classes fear losing their grip on society.'
Even articles by moderate thinkers have come under fire.
The Malay-language daily ‘Utusan Malaysia’ (‘Malaysian Courier’) dropped the popular weekly column of moderate Muslim cleric Asri Zainal Abidin for no apparent reason. Known for his independent views on Islamic issues, Abidin’s last column appeared on Feb. 28 and was replaced by a columnist known for his ultra-conservative views.
Abidin was quoted in local papers as saying that many of his opinions of late 'have been different from theirs', referring to the newspaper’s owners.
Apart from using legal provisions that bar the publication of material that incites hatred in this multi-ethnic country — a very sensitive matter in Malaysia — the government has media laws it can use against publications.
Carried over from the country’s colonial past, the Printing and Publication Act 1948 requires all forms of media, except online news portals, to have a publishing permit issued by the Home Ministry. These permits expire at the end of the year and need to be renewed before publishing can resume.
'It’s like a Damocles sword hanging over the head of the publishers,' said Ennalini Elumalai, a coordinator with Suaram, the country’s best-known human rights group. 'Publishers are faced with the prospect of permit cancellation. It is either behave or lose the publishing licence,' she said.
Activists and opposition lawmakers have long called for the law to be repealed but without success.
'We stand to lose millions of dollars if our publication is suspended for even a month,' said a senior manager of a major publishing group that also controls radio and television stations. 'Publishing is a big business involving millions in investments and no publishing company is willing to be brave and lose their investment by angering the authorities,' he said, asking not to be identified.
The online media are freer than the print media. But even there, the government applies influence by co-opting editors or journalists and controlling funding sources.
'(Despite the odds), there is still room for courage, to stand up for freedom of speech. If we capitulate every time, then why bother publishing at all?' said Mahathir on her blog, ‘Rantings by MM’.
*The Asia Media Forum (http://www.theasiamediaforum.org) is a space for journalists to share insights on issues related to the media and their profession, as well as stories and opinions on democracy, development and human rights in Asia.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service