Threatened under all three PMs

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Sep 11, 2009

(The Nut Graph) PETALING JAYA, 11 Sept 2009: The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)'s investigation of Malaysiakini this week is not the first time the online news site has been harassed or threatened by the state.

In fact, Malaysiakini has experienced harassment and received threats from state agencies and government leaders under the previous administration of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and now, under Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

"Press freedom hasn't improved a lot over the last 10 years," said Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan in a phone interview with The Nut Graph. The news site turns 10 years old this year.

"The government has a long track record of muzzling the [traditional] media. They have the mindset that they want to clamp down on us. Although there is the 'no censorship' pledge for online media, the mindset is still the same."

Last week, the MCMC directed Malaysiakini to remove two video reports from its site and from YouTube. The first video showed the 28 Aug 2009 cow-head protest in Shah Alam where the protestors threatened bloodshed if a Hindu temple was relocated to their neighbourhood. The second video was of Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein's 2 Sept press conference where he defended the cow-head protestors.

MCMC officers questioned Malaysiakini staff for eight hours on 8 Sept on the two videos. Seven members of the MCMC visited Malaysiakini again on 10 Sept and demanded for the original tapes of the recording of the event. They also asked to copy the hard disks of two computers that were used to upload the videos.

The current investigation is under Sections 211 and 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 which prohibits the provision of content which is "indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person."