HRW reprimands Malaysia over media oppression
By Stephanie Sta Maria, Free Malaysia Insider
“But letting political expediency trump the right to free expression insults all Malaysians who want a more open society, no matter their party affiliation.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s recent crackdown on three opposition party publications has earned it a stern dressing-down from the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW’s reproach followed the government’s indefinite suspension of PKR’s Suara Keadilan, the conditional renewal of license for PAS’s Harakah and the two show cause letters sent to DAP’s The Rocket.
“Malaysia’s leaders hardly ever miss a chance to harass or shut down opposition papers by invoking national unity or public order, or claiming that official secrets are being revealed,” said HRW Asia’s deputy director Phil Robertson.
“But letting political expediency trump the right to free expression insults all Malaysians who want a more open society, no matter their party affiliation.”
HRW also noted that Malay nationalist movement Perkasa’s Suara Perkasa was issued a warning after its inaugral issue carried a headline demanding deputy education minister Wee Ka Siong be arrested under the Internal Security Act for allegedly ‘challenging Malay rights’.
“Newspapers should not have to answer to the government for what they are saying,” Robertson stated. “It is for its own partisan political purposes that the Malaysian government tries to browbeat the opposition press into silence.”
HRW’s call also included a reversal of bans on politically sensitive books and halting the harassment of independent journalists.
The former referred several book by cartoonist Zunar while the latter referred to the Securities Commission’s interrogation of four journalists.
“The government uses every trick in the book to block news it doesn’t want to reach the public,” Robertson pointed out.
