Arrests of journalists: Najib goes one better than Dr M
- 106 arrests under Ops Lalang, 150+ arrests under Ops Lalang 2
- Ongoing attempts to silence dissenting voices; we need to speak up
(Digital News Asia) – OVER the weekend, independent Malaysian film-maker and musician Pete Teo wrote a Facebook post aimed at those who were attempting to reform Malaysia “from the inside.”
Not one to mince his words, he said, “Malaysia is in deep shit. You and I both know this.
“To change things, reformers need to be brave, determined and righteous. It has taken 50 years for us to fall this far, and the road to revitalising this country will be equally long and arduous. You will need to be driven by vision, integrity and courage to last the distance.
“Yet all I hear from you – even as our police harass civil society and opposition figures by abusing the Sedition Act – is silence,” he added.
About 20 hours after Teo posted this on his Facebook page, Malaysian police, accompanied by officers of industry regulator the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), raided the office of news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI).
In an affirmation that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, they needed about a dozen men. They came in at 5:52pm on March 30, examined an editor’s computer, interviewed managing editor Lionel Morais, Malay-language news editor Amin Shah Iskandar, and features and analysis editor Zulkifli Sulong – then proceeded to arrest these three men.
The three were arrested over a March 25 report on hudud related to the Conference of Rulers, TMI said in its own report of the incident. They are being investigated under the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the latter of which deals with “improper use of network facilities or network services.”
The March 25 report in TMI said that the Conference of Rulers had rejected a proposal to amend a federal law that would pave the way for hudud or Islamic law to be enforced in the state of Kelantan. The Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal lodged a police report on March 26 to deny that the Conference of Rulers had discussed the matter and that it had ever issued any statement on hudud in Kelantan.
“On March 29, Kedah Umno Youth filed a police report against The Malaysian Insider and called for stern action against the portal over the report,” TMI said in its report.
“Barisan Nasional MPs (Members of Parliament) also complained about the matter in Parliament. Over the last two days, Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia has carried several reports calling for action against the portal,” TMI said.
Umno Youth is the youth wing of Umno, the dominant party in the ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional.
Now, because there was a police report lodged, the police were well within their rights to investigate. Indeed, they were duty-bound to do so. And perhaps a crime was committed. We don’t know what exactly is being investigated.
But compare their heavy-handed manner here with how they investigate ruling politicians and government-controlled media – that is, when they even deign to do so.
TMI is owned by The Edge Media Group, whose group chief executive editor and publisher Ho Kay Tat said, “We do not think that the arrests were necessary as they [the three editors] can meet the police any time to have their statements taken.
“We call on the police to release them immediately,” he added.
