Our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, told the world on CNN News just 2 months ago that the Malaysian press is free, but they practice responsible self-censorship.Well, if a meeting called by the Deputy Prime Minister himself, together with Minister of Works, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Effendi Norwawi and Minister of Information, Datuk Zainuddin Maidin with the editors of all Malaysian newspapers to "discuss" the upcoming "toll-hike" issue isn't press censorship, what is?
The editors of all newspapers and television stations have been told not to play up the impending increase in toll hike on five highways, at a hush-hush briefing... [the Ministers] met with the editors at Parliament house at 3.45pm to discuss the increase in charges.This, if I'm not wrong, is the sixth time the editors of the local newspapers have been called in for briefings by the cabinet in 2006, specifically pertaining to the reporting of certain sensitive issues such as crime, the New Economic Policy and controversial politics.
“They are afraid the issue would create another round of public fury,” a source told Malaysiakini after the 90-minute meeting, of which even reporters covering Parliament were not aware.
And the count doesn't yet include the times which official letters have been sent to specific newspapers on some of their high-profile reports. Even the case of corruptions in the renovation works in Chinese vernacular schools is not spared of interference from the Internal Security Minister, also helmed by our Prime Minister, as blogged here in "Education in Malaysia".
Indeed, we have press freedom in Malaysia, but we also have Government-directed media self-censorship. Go figure.
4 comments:
With the censorship directives from the government which is compounded with the rhetorics from Pak Lah himself, cyberspace is the only avenue that we can obtain the truths behind the scenes. No doubt that we all have been cheated into putting him in office. The oppositions need to buck up to become the next contender to lead Malaysia out of the 'abyss'.
Good lead Nerd,
Following Lee Kuan Yew's comment about the Singapore oppostion (he called them a bunch of riffraff), it incites the thought if our Malaysian opposition is more educated than the BN MP's.
Is it possible to get their education profile ?
Ya, we have the so-called Malaysian freedom of the Press, whereby the Press must be pressed to be free from reporting the undesirable information!
The Malaysian press must practice responsible self-censorship for the simple reason that should they intentionally or otherwise publish anything that displeases the PM, they risk being sacked and their papers closed down! Just look at what happened to the directors of the local papers over the Danish cartons of Prophet Muhammad(pbuh). This is the reality of "freedom" of the press in an extremely flawed "democracy".
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