Media freedom in Malaysia – was there one in the first place?

From a problem involving one publication, it now has become a bigger issue – one about media freedom in Malaysia, about the freedom of expression, not merely about suspension of The Heat. Although calls for the immediate lifting of the suspension continue to be made, there’s now an outburst of demand for a free media in Malaysia.

Mohsin Abdullah

THE MEDIA in Malaysia have always been controlled. That’s to put it mildly. And that’s a given.

But when Datuk Seri (now Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was prime minister, the grip on the media was somewhat “loosened”. In other words, there was a bit of freedom for the Malaysian media then. That was what the editors, including yours truly who was helming the ntv7 news and current affairs department back then, felt .

Don’t know if they still opined as such now. But I surely do.

But media freedom in the Malaysian context is freedom by Malaysian standards.   Yes, the key words are “by Malaysian standard”. That’s plain enough for all to understand, I think. No elaboration needed, right?

Why did the Abdullah government give that freedom, I didn’t know then and I do not know now.  Perhaps he was a true liberal, honestly with a reform agenda. Or he didn’t have time to cast suspicious eye on the media constantly or hold a tight rein. Or maybe he simply didn’t care .

But the thing is, or was, the mainstream news organisations then could do things which we couldn’t previously. I don’t know about the other media but at least that was how it was for the ntv7 news that I led. There were many instances or examples which I have no intention to specify. But the biggie was surely the 12th general election in 2008.

ntv7 then enjoyed the “space” in covering the election, so much so the station was mentioned positively following a quantitative study coordinated by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) in collaboration with the Writers’ Alliance for Media independence and Aliran.

The study noted that “while most of the mainstream media were BN cheerleaders, ntv7 and The Sun offered some hope in providing balanced coverage.” The finding of that study was published by The Sun newspaper in April 2008, a month after the March 8 poll.

And that “balanced coverage” didn’t get me – the editor in chief of ntv7 news then – into trouble. (However, upon the change of prime minister of the country, I as well as my boss at the parent company – Media Prima – had to leave. That’s another story for another day ).

As we know the BN, in particular Umno, led by Abdullah or Pak Lah as he is fondly known, fared badly at the 2008 polls. And detractors in Umno, in blaming Pak Lah for the poor polls results, attributed it to his “relax or lax attitude”  towards the media.

They felt the PM then had given “too much face” to the media “allowing them to do as they like”. Rightly or wrongly, that was the accusation.

So, when Pak Lah relinquished the premiership, the concern among editors then (well, maybe it was just me) was, if what Pak Lah did (or didn’t do) with the media was deemed wrong by his party, could it be that incoming PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak would not want to repeat his predecessor’s “mistakes” ?

Put simply, the concern then was the new PM would have to tighten or retake media control so as not to repeat the “mistake” – particularly when facing the next general election (GE 13).

But when Najib became PM, he came with what he called his transformation agenda. And among others, he put into place “reforms,” as far as media regulatory was concerned. Supporters hailed it as “media liberalisation.” Critics dismissed all that as nothing more than “cosmetic”.