Press Statement by Charles Santiago in Klang on Sunday, 25^th April 2010:

Vote Zaid to demand media independence and justice for Joshua Wong

The resignation of NTV7 senior producer Joshua Wong has once again crystallized the state of the local media in Malaysia. Wong has cited unreasonable restrictions, overzealous self-censorship and government interference as reasons for him calling it quits.

His words match the mood. Local media organisations are the mouthpiece of the ruling UMNO/Barisan government. Editorial policies and news contents are tailored to trumpet the government's rhetoric.

Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that Wong's hour-long talk show "Editor's Time" has irked the ruling elite including Rosmah Mansor, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's wife, as alleged by Wong.

According to Wong, his proposals to feature the Hulu Selangor by-election and plans to include opposition politicians in the talk show was only met with threats to cease production. Again this is not surprising as the local media is under the thumb of ruling UMNO and NTV7 is owned by UMNO-linked Media Prima.

I have had the privilege of working with Wong following his expose on the human trafficking ring of the Burmese refugees run by Malaysian Immigration officers. While I respect Wong's courage to throw in the towel, this incident has also brought pertinent issues to the ground.

A vibrant media is the backbone of a civil society. Therefore, the UMNO-led government must be committed to the promotion and protection of press freedom, freedom of opinion and expression and free flow of news and information.

In radical contrast, Malaysia has persecuted and jailed bloggers, threatened foreign journalists and clamped down on alternative views. Given this, Wong's protest resignation is a clear signal to UMNO that its actions would not be tolerated by the democratic world.

Wong's allegation that a SMS, with racial undertones, was circulated by Rosmah to his superiors is clearly worrying. As reported by the media, part of the SMS said that the Chinese people are "becoming rude" and the "the Malays should go to war".

This does not only blow a hole in the rhetoric of 1Malaysia as propagated by Najib but also has the potential to further deepen the racial polarization in the country. As such, I urge the management of NTV7 to lodge a police report to allow for an investigation of the SMS.

This is not the first time we are witnessing political interference in the day to day working of the media. The Star, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sunday Star and Watan had their publishing licenses revoked during the 1987 Operasi Lalang, forcing the media workers to moonlight as taxi drivers.

UMNO's political meddling in media organisations have become worse, forcing Malaysians to turn to online news portals and blogs for credible, fair news contents.

The attack on journalists, like Wong, is inadvertently an attack on democracy. It is a reflection of Malaysia's failed politics and stalled governance. But all is not lost. The people could bring about a change in governance through the ballot boxes.

Therefore, I strongly urge the voters in Hulu Selangor to vote for Zaid Ibrahim, the Pakatan Rakyat candidate. This is to ensure not just a free media but the weeding out of all preventive laws and the restoration of the independence of government institutions.

The 53-year rule of UMNO has been fraught with rampant corruption, greed and money politics which is currently threatening to destroy us all.

As a pledge of solidarity to Wong's courageous action, let us unite to bring back good governance in the administration of the country by showing our support for Zaid and Pakatan Rakyat.

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