Critics Fear Malaysia Returning To Dark Days of Press Censorship
Communications Minister Fahmi a lightning rod
Press protection NGOs and news organizations are growing concerned that Malaysia, under Ahmad Fahmi Fadzil, the Minister of Communications and Digital in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, is approaching the days of the UMNO administration under Najib Razak in restricting the public flow of information.
“Don't get upset with me if there is a call or a radio car outside of your house. We are monitoring, behave yourself," Fahmi told one reporter. He appears to be making good on his threats by blocking a number of news portals and blogs including Malaysia Now, Malaysia Today, and the Wee Choo Keong blog, which carry independent news about the government, and which all have been blocked without notice.
Opposition politicians, journalism organizations, and activists demanded that Fahmi explain why and how the blockages took place. He has yet to provide an explanation, saying he never instructed the block of "any news portal." Cloudflare, on which the news portals are carried, says it has no evidence that the blockages occurred because of its outages.
There has not been censorship of political and commentary sites on the web since the days of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, when he blocked sites critical of him over the 1MDB scandal back in 2014-15, including Asia Sentinel, which lost thousands of readers, and The Sarawak Report, edited by Clare Rewcastle Brown, who played an instrumental role in bringing down the Barisan Nasional government headed by Najib in 2018. Local independent journalists including Malaysiakini and others were constantly harassed and threatened.
“The Malaysian government exerts a great deal of political pressure to deter the media from tackling taboo subjects or from criticizing politicians and government officials, and the authorities harass investigative reporters, according to the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. “The monarchy is an extremely sensitive subject. Any form of commentary or reporting deemed critical of the monarchy can result in prosecution and heavy penalties, leading to generalized self-censorship on the topic.”
The concern is especially distressing because Anwar Ibrahim as opposition leader had stood firmly on the side of press freedom. Now, in charge of the government, the reformasi commitment appears to have diminished in many areas. Last week, for instance, human rights activist Shashi Kumar was told by the police in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam that he is being investigated for violation of the Penal Code related to international insult and provocation of public peace, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act, related to abuse of internet facilities, and the Minor Offences Act, related to insulting behavior after he criticized the prime ministers conversion of an Indian youth to Islam at a mosque he visited earlier. The Tamil Indian community is very concerned over the conversion of children to Islam without the knowledge of both parents, a matter that needs discussion and some form of resolution, to protect the rights of both parents having a say on their children. The police wanted to confiscate Shashi’s phone when he visited the police station with no guarantee he would get it back.
Abuse of power
Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), a Kuala Lumpur-based human rights and law reform initiative claimed in a recent press statement that Fahmi had abused his power as a minister by ordering reports to be lodged with the media and communications commission under his own purview to investigate those accusing him of disseminating political misinformation. A poster accusing Fahmi of instructing government-friendly parties to blame the rural Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysa (PAS) for the mid-July cancellation of the Good Vibes Festival concert recently. The concert was canceled by Fahm himself after what was described as an on-stage stunt by British band The 1975's frontman Matt Healy and bassist Ross MacDonald involving launching an expletive-riddled tirade against Malaysia's anti-LGBT laws that led up to a deep kiss shared between both the two on stage. Fahmi denied the allegations.
Critics say Fahmi makes up government policy as he goes along, for instance over the implementation of internet provider Starlink, the brainchild of tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The media and communications commission recently granted a 10-year license to a foreign company to become an internet service provider for Starlink, ignoring the 30 percent Bumiputera equity requirement to provide satellite broadband services. That followed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s 25-minute video call with Musk. The company is fully owned by Amsterdam-based Starlink Holdings Netherlands, even though there is a 49 percent cap on foreign equity for network facilities provider (NFP)and network service provider (NSP) licenses. The exemption was granted by the ministry on the basis of the value and benefits provided by Starlink. However, there are a number of outage issues with Starlink, and supplying broadband to 40 schools, as Anwar requested, are in areas where the existing network service providers already have sufficient capacity to supply more reliable services at cheaper rates.
The Starlink deal may have helped in remote areas of Sarawak and Sabah, the critics say, asking why this wasn’t thought of. Why was part of the NFP and NSP market given over to a foreign company, when local companies are already servicing the nation adequately? Instead of lowering the costs of broadband for Malaysians, the Starlink option is being offered at RM220 per month, with an upfront ground unit required, costing RM11,500, only increasing option costs.
Fahmi Fadzil himself became what was called a “minor celebrity” after being forced to agree in 2011 to tweet 100 times that he defamed a publishing company. Fahmi had published a tweet about a pregnant friend who purportedly resigned from Female magazine due to poor human resource practices by her employer, BluInc Media, according to a blog called The Nut Graf. In his 100-tweet apology, Fahmi said that this was, in fact, untrue. Others said Fahmi should have verified his facts before tweeting.
Fahmi has defended himself, issuing a statement at a media conference in defense of free speech, with the caveat being that it should be within the limits of existing laws. Free speech, he said, should “have a basis and can be defended in court.”
His ministry, he said, is committed to “closely cooperating with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and social media platform operators in order to discuss concerns over misinformation, extremist content, and its regulatory framework. But, he told the conference, free speech should not be used to make baseless accusations or defamatory purposes. It appears he is increasingly determining personally what are baseless accusations or defamatory purposes, critics say.
Let's not pussyfoot around. Let's call a spade what it is -- a spade. Pakatan Harapan -- the Harapan bit is every bit a laughable misnomer, and the loose translation of Pakatan is gang -- is the new-old Barisan Nasional. PH isn't just "approaching" the good old rotten days of Umno under Najib but it certainly is stylistically Umno today. Just about everything PH does is as ad hoc as was the case under Najib and Umno. To be sure, it was is very much like PH under Mahathir Mohamad MKII, when every cabinet minister, or just about, was doing his or her own thing. There was no policy coherence then. There was little of it under Mahathir MKI, and there is most certainly none under Anwar Ibrahim, who is destined to become a one-term wonder. And I mean "wonder". If this is what his Mandani philosophy is, it's a terrible and hopeless joke. But not surprising either, since Anwar has baulked at every turn on his promised so-called reformasi. In a nutshell, we're witnessing the continuation of the Malay Wild West in Malaysia that started under second prime minister Abdul Razak, and made even more farcical by Mahathir from 1981 onwards in terms of policymaking and politics. Had it not been for state capitalism and international foreign investment, plus -- lucky, lucky -- oil and gas finds, Malaysia would now Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe -- a basket-case with a pariah state.
Talk about racial stereotyping in Malaysian politics (what else is new in Malaysia if not for everything circumscribed by race and so-called god?), Anthony Loke of the DAP apparently went out on a limb to "check on" Malaysia's public transport system. But was he "checking" with a view to improve the long "standard operating procedure" malaise within this sector? I doubt it. He was doing a Lim Guan Eng under Mahathir MKII. Lim tried damn hard to be Mahathir's righthand man, as it were, even though at press conferences he was always seen sitting to Mahathir's left, leaning in and whispering sweet nothings into the old goose's ear. Only for the old goose to pretend to be listening to Lim. Lim wanted to show (a) he was finance minister, although it was Mahathir who oversaw by checking that portfolio, and (b) he wanted to fly the Rocket for the sake of growing the Chinese demographic, whether DAP, MCA or Gerakan or the non-committed Chinese. It got Lim very far, no? Lim tried to be the populist, and, in my view, so did Anthony Loke.
Now, as Loke has receded into the background, Fahmi Fadzil has stepped up to do the same -- be a populist. But for whom? Ask Anwar. The Malays, of course. PH's bread-and-butter votes that it's desperately unable to win over. Corrupt and incompetent Umno has certainly lost them all. Nobody can fault them for being dumb and selfish too. But Fadzil thinks he can protect the Malay mind by moulding, if you like, internet content from critics and extremists. Fahmi has big head and an even bigger ego, just as Khairy Jamaluddin had in her years until he more or less changed his tune when he led the covid pandemic fightback. Did a fair job of it too. But Fadzil isn't Khairy Jamaluddin. Fadzil is an incarnation of the old Umno. He's pro-Malay, not pro-Malaysian (whatever "Malaysian" is supposed to mean). He's regressive, not progressive, despite his expensive-looking Western suits and shoes. They're colorful and bright because he wants to stand out in the crowd -- the urban Malay crowd. Recall when he would dress without a tie. Relek Fahmi Lah! He wanted peple to love him. Trust? Another matter altogether. As for policy: Under PH, it's as ad hoc as it had been under Umno (Mahathir and Najib and Mahathir MKII). There's not one policy under PH that can be said to be progressive for the advancement of politics, society and the economy of Malaysia. Not a single one. Everything is based on populism. The cruder the better.
Which brings me back to Anwar Ibrahim. Who is he? What is he? Does he, himself, really believe in his Mandani claptrap, which he, claiming to be an intellectual, failed -- miserably, I might add -- to explain with clarity and brevity what Mandani stands for and how it will apply in the governing of the country across all its nefarious fronts? Anwar plucks stuff out of thin air. Fadzil is doing the same. Lim Guan Eng too, when it came for fiscal policies, including managing the Najib-punctured budget and Malaysia's growing debt profile. Anwar is low-fruit, in political terms. When he wears the traditional garb, he's playing to the Malay hinterland or kampong crowd who refuse to back him, refuse to lend him political legitimacy, whose "government" was created at only -- and only -- the behest of the king, not by popular Malay vote.
Najib has a penchant for Western attire. Very expensive ones too. As did Rosmah for materialism. Got husband and wife, both crooks, very far. But when Najib needed Malay backing, he'd be seen in baju Melayu and songkok. Which is what Anwar has been doing since becoming prime minister. Meeting foreign dignitaries in this gear and Malay sandals doesn't make Anwar Ibrahim Mahatma Gandhi (even though Gandhi was enever prime minister). But Gandhi was authentic, for the most part. Anwar Ibrahim, Fadzil and hoime minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and others of this ilk in the Anwar cabinet, are not. Not by a long, long shot.
The real big worry is when Fadzil and Saifuddin turn the Malaysian state into a right royal Malaysian Gestapo state. Because that's where this is heading, as it was under Umno (Mahathir and Najib), racist and bigoted to the hilt, and endemically pro-Malay, the more Taliban PAS and the low-lives of Perikatan Nasional turn the screws more on Anwar and his so-called administration after Anwar and Pakatan Tidak Ada Harapan completely botched the state elections.
Fahmi is new in the job. The guy has never really worked a day in his life. When he got the job, he wanted to please pmx. Just like saifudin, these inexperienced talentless duo make it worst for this unelected so call reformasi government.
His incompetent to relate to the public is why no one really knows what the government are doing day in day out. surely there are some good stuff but fahmi is not communicating with the people. Suhaimi Sulaiman, the boss of RTM has not been given policies and direction, theres no calendar of events from any ministry of programs of the day. It is on a touch n go basis.
Of course the social media fellas attack the government because fahmi doesnt know what to do.
Out of anger and fear that his boss find out he doesnt know how to work, he start oppressing freedom of the people to express and free speech. Threat here and there, its embarrassing.