On this World Press Freedom Day, we honour the work carried out by journalists and media organizations in Malaysia and all over the world in informing the public on issues of local, national and international importance. We affirm the principles of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press which are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A free and independent media is an essential component of ensuring that there is a check and balance on the government and is absolutely necessary to promote good governance and transparency.
In the age of the internet and social media, the need to protect the press from intimidation, harassment and persecution must also extent to others who are involved in the process of the dissemination of information including bloggers, citizen journalists and online media organizations.
Unfortunately, the freedom of the press in Malaysia is not a concept which is understand or practised by the Malaysian government. Malaysia languishes at the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index ranking 147 out of 180 countries according to the 2015 rankings compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).[1]
Journalists and editors continue to be harassed by the authorities most recently with the arrests of four editors with The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and the Edge Media Group publisher Ho Kay Tat under the Seditions Act. This was indeed a black mark for press freedom in the country and highlights the continued abuse of the Seditions Act against not just politicians but also members of the media fraternity. Political cartoonist Zunar also made history by being charged for 9 counts of sedition for a series of tweets following the rejection of Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal in the Federal Court.
The recent draconian amendments to the Sedition Act by specifically extending its scope to the online media, will only lead to more opportunities for its abuse by the authorities including against journalists, bloggers and editors. What is truly disturbing is that the draconian amendments to the Sedition Act were made despite the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak having promised three times to repeal the act.
Truly the draconian amendments were intended to be manipulated as a political weapon against those who oppose BN as witnessed by the recent mass arrests of anti-GST demonstrators in contrast to the barbaric episode of UMNO local leaders in Selangor forcing a church to remove its cross, an uncivilized act that went unpunished. The strengthening of the oppressive nature of the Sedition Act instead of repealing it as promised, spells the doom of fundamental human rights of freedom of expression as well as any vestige of press freedom in Malaysia.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, visited the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, in order to lobby for a seat on the executive board for the years 2015-2019. But at the same time, the Malaysian government refuses to celebrate World Press Freedom Day which is celebrated by UNESCO by the awarding of the UNESCO / Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to a “person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and / or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world.”[2]
If indeed Malaysia wants to uphold the full responsibilities of a member of the executive board in UNESCO, I call upon the Malaysian government to:
(i) Abolish the Seditions Act, which was a pre-2013 general election promise made by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
(ii) Celebrate and uphold the values and principles of the World Press Freedom Day
(iii) Make a public commitment to improve Malaysia’s World Press Freedom Index ranking to a top 50 position in the next 3 years
(iv) Fulfil and deliver on the thrice-repeated promise by the Prime Minister to repeal the Sedition Act.