Drop all police action against Jeff Ooi and let’s all  focus on how the country can have media freedom and religious tolerance  for which all Malaysians can be proud and stand tall in the world

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Saturday): New Straits Times today under the heading “Police to probe blogger Jeff Ooi” reported that the Jeff Ooi’s blog Screenshots “has come under police scrutiny for allegedly inciting racial disharmony over a cartoon strip published in the New Straits Times”.

If action is to be taken against Jeff Ooi, then action should also be taken against  those who appeared to be like-minded with Jeff Ooi that NST should be penalized for the cartoon, which would include former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, at least  two Cabinet Ministers namely Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin and UMNO Youth.

I am not for a moment suggesting that action should be taken against other parties and individuals, including Mahahtir, Hishammuddin and Zainuddin,  over Wiley Miller’s  Non Sequitur syndicated cartoon strip, but I am calling for all  police action against Jeff Ooi to be dropped so that the country can focus on how to  have media freedom and religious tolerance  for which all Malaysians can be proud and stand tall in the world.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that after 28 months of the Abdullah premiership pledged to ben open, accountable and transparent, only baby-tottering steps had been taken on the front of  press freedom, freedom of expression and information, together with  the perception that some are “more free” than others.

This was one of the two issues intertwined in the NST cartoon controversy, the anguish about double standards with the indefinite suspension of Sarawak Tribune and the  two-week suspension of the night edition of Guang Ming if NST is allowed to go scot-free.

Now, the questions  of  RTM2 (Chinese news) and RTM1 (Bahasa Malaysia news) having shown the controversial Prophet Muhammad caricature early this month have been raised.

Just as I have said that three wrongs do not make a right, similarly four or five wrongs would not make a right.  Lets all eat humble pie and   admit that we can make mistakes, and this includes the government in the excessive, disproportionate and unjustifiable suspension of Sarawak Tribune and Guang Ming night edition, both of which should be lifted immediately. All witch-hunting should be halted.

If New Straits Times had lodged the current police report against Jeff Ooi, it should be withdrawn.

Let plural  Malaysia  -  the government, mass media, political parties, the religions, blogging community  and the civil society  - come together to  develop a new understanding and  concord which can expand both   the frontiers of media freedom and religious tolerance. 

We may then have a  good and useful example for the world to learn from instead of our  just imbibing the excesses from the rest of the world.

Yesterday  Zainuddin spoke of “a new era”  of “press freedom with social responsibility”.  I will be the first to applaud Zainuddin if this heralds a change of heart and new mindset in completely discarding his Goebbels past of abuse  of the Information Ministry for misinformation and disinformation.

If Zainuddin is really prepared for a new era of press freedom with social responsibility, he must publicly be prepared to concede that as Information Minister, he is only facilitator and not dictator of its definition and  his role is to bring together all the stakeholders to reach a consensus on  the meaning of “press freedom with social responsibility”.  Is Zainuddin really prepared for a fresh start for “a new era”?

(25/02/2006)