Press Statement by Charles Santiago in Klang on Wednesday, 17^th March 2010:

Withdraw China Press show-cause letter and stop intimidating the media

I strongly condemn the Home Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, for sending a show cause letter to China Press over a news report relating to the impending resignation of the IGP on 13th March, 2010.

Hishammudin immediately denied the report but made a dramatic U-turn and said that the IGP, Musa Hassan, would be replaced. This reaction came merely two days after the news report was published.

China Press, clearly, has done a scoop. In a knee-jerk reaction, the government is targeting the newspaper and harassing its editor.

Monitoring this chain of events, the first issue that comes to mind is the racially-inciting statements and editorials published by Utusan Malaysia. The broadsheet daily went scot-free after carrying articles which had the potential of triggering a racial strife in multi-racial Malaysia.

Despite calls for a free media, the government is still peddling its rhetoric around the need to monitor the contents of newspapers, television, alternative media and the blogs.

Hishammuddin’s warning reminds us that the media is tightly controlled by the Home Ministry as it requires an annual renewal of their publishing licenses. The Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 (PPPA) is also well-designed for an authoritarian government to limit the public sphere and curb freedom of expression.

A free media is the essence of a modern democratic system that cannot be compromised. However, the continued intimidation of the media allows the ruling National Front coalition government to intervene into the day-to-day operations of the press and also ensure minimal avenue for opposition voice.

This has led to self-censorship and the victims of this high-handed tactic are the people whose right to information has been deprived and manipulated by Barisan Nasional.

Since Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak declared his KPIs and NKRAs in July 2009, the people and civil society have been questioning him about indicators to measure democracy and freedom in the country.

Najib must remember that the political tsunami of March 8, 2008 is not only about mismanagement, corruption, inflation and deteriorating ethnic relationship in Malaysia.

The people made it clear that they want greater democratic space and freedom of expression and assembly which were absent during the past 53 years under the BN regime.

After the last general election, this no longer seems like an outlandish demand. Malaysians want a vibrant political system. They now hold the government accountable to comply to every term in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the United Nations including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association.

I, therefore, call upon the Home Minister to immediately withdraw the show cause letter sent to China Press and abolish the annual publishing permit requirement to guarantee the people a free press.

* Charles Santiago, DAP Selangor Vice Chairman & MP for Klang