MCMC: cyber Gestapo in Malaysia?
By Sim Kwang Yang
So the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission officers are expected to charge Malaysiakini for transgressing cyber laws in Malaysia?
They have spent many man-hours interrogating the editor-in-chief of Malaysiakini Steven Gan and more than 10 of his staff members over the airing of two videos, one showing the cow-head protest and the other over a press conference given by the Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein.
According to MCMC monitoring and enforcement division senior acting director Abdul Halim Ahman, in his letter to Malaysiakini, the display of both videos on the news portal “is an offence under Section 211/233 of the CMA”
Under the Act, any individual found guilty of publishing content “which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person” is liable to a fine of up to RM50,000 or a jail sentence.
For the life of me, I simply cannot figure out how the two video clips mentioned can offend anybody, except perhaps the cow-head protesters and the Home Ministers. Malaysiakini was just reporting facts and events that had actually happened. If that is a crime against the law, then the government might as well close down all newspapers and all media organisations.
There are many other papers and media organisations that gave significant coverage to the two events. Why are they not interrogated and charged as well?
Is the MCMC one of those Malay dominated institutions of state established to ensure Malay dominance in all things Malaysia – according to the narrative of Utusan Malaysia?
At stake, is the freedom of expression on the Internet in Malaysia.
Netizens in Malaysia have tasted the sweet honey of unfettered freedom of expression on the Internet, such that the BN controlled mainstream media have become superfluous, thereby breaking the BN monopoly of the past on the flow of information and shaping of opinions.
That press freedom on the alternative media is now poised to topple the BN half century stranglehold on power in Malaysia. The MCMC action is nothing but a feeble attempt to intimidate net news portals and bloggers into subservience.
