Press Freedom in Malaysia

tug license in MalayansiaIntroduction and scene of barrack FreedomAccording to the World cut Freedom magnate 2014, our country, Malaysia ranks 147 among 180 countries. The World Press Freedom Index measures the degree of license of the journalists and tidings demesneation in each country, how often clock times efforts that the common assess to the liberty and ensure it, and to a fault the negative connection between culture and conflicts. There atomic number 18 roughly general criteria that the World Press Freedom Index apply to score the country which ar pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, foil and infrastructure (Reporters with issue Borders, 2014). Since our country ranks in 147, it means that Malaysias twinge liberty is tot exclusivelyy in a difficult situation. The violations and discrimination of the journalists and in some(prenominal) case the daily tidings which publish ab extinct violence and negati ve issues whollyow affect the World Press Freedom ranking.The stark nakeds media in Malaysia argon almostly monopolized by uprightnesss and regulation. It covers a huge area in the media persistence and restrict them in many ways. Government may reinforce the fabrication by adopting and implementing a self-regulation code and even watch or track down them to impose those regulations (Alsogoff Hamzah 2007). This results in the restriction of crush out granting immunity. Press emancipation protects the immunity to obtain and publish materials without the politics censorship or the law enforcement. It applies to all types of printed and broadcast material such as books, newspapers, journals, magazines, brochures, films and radio and even the picture programs.The abridge are not given too much antecedent or credibility to perform on trusted things. According to Alsagoff, Abdullah Hassan (2011), they give tongue to that thither are three ways to restrict the shake up freedom in Malaysia which are through and through restrictive laws, possessorship from political fare comfortablyies and machine-accessible business individuals and similarly the self-censorship which are exercised by the editors and journalists. Because of the laws and regulations towards the press freedom, the press and the national raisenot extract their feelings and thoughts freely. This has already restricted them to think creatively and critically.Importance of Press FreedomAs we know, although the press freedom has been partially restricted in Malaysia, either the online news or news way out, the journalists tranquilize consider the freedom of press important for some reasons and tactical maneuver their role as the responsibleness to transmit the tuition to the public, as followsSince the entropy and the news has been published without macrocosm biased or prejudiced, the public are qualified to make decision or think critically about the related issuePress functions not only as the indicator of an issue but as well as the as the medias predictor of the change in the nations over the worldPress can be cognise as a part of the media to help to maintain the balance and the democracy of the country. Media acts as the watchdog of the masses and overly the Fourth Estate other than the three traditional estate of the realm of the Parliament.Nowadays, there are strong inseparable relationship between the posture of democracy and the role of the press and media. It means that one cannot function without another(prenominal) where the rapid growth of the technology and the rise of the mixer media is challenging the restrictions from the governing to the press media.(Dr.Sankaran, n.d.)Technology, Social Media and ReformasiThe media crisis issues which were happened in Malaysia has contributed to the idea of press freedom. Most of the press freedom had their printing licenses revoked because of the restriction of the presidency and the l aws.After facing much obstacles from make materials such as may 1969 Riots, subroutine Lalang and the Reformasi issue, the trouble shifted to the Internet. In the early September 1998, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad fired his natural law lieutenant Anwar Ibrahim. Many Malaysians were craving to search for the faithfulness of why Anwar had been fired as the government concealed the truth from the mainstream media. Thus, the substitute media such as online meshsite were sprang up to find out the truth and to maintain the principles as journalists which are enhancer and accountability. For example, Malaysias most popular email controvertion, The Sangkancil mailing list, the self-supporting web-based daily newspaper, Malaysiakini,com, website for a community to cultivate a public sphere, Freemedia, and the web radio which nether the Centre of Investigative Journalisms operation, RadiqRadio.com (Anil, 2002). It also claims that Anwar Ibrahim is the one who brought ou t the trend of using alternative media to find out the truth.In this new era, collectible to the climbment of the technology, newspaper are slowly not recognized by the people as they are able to search the information that they want through the alternative media. The Internet appeared to translate the ways that the news media work used to be in technological-developing countries as well as how the society groups try to change the society (Robie, n.d.). Thus, it makes a large extent to the alternative or independent media in the world. It provides alternative viewpoint, opinion and information to the public (Atton, 2002).Although blogs and kindly ne cardinalrking website were not essentially used to share information, they are widely used to spread the news crack than the mainstream media which automatically transform into the most potential information source (Sajad, n.d.). However, there are still some people who use the alternative and the kindly media such as Facebook, Twi tter, Youtube and other sources to spread misinformation and rumors.Alternative media differs with the mainstream media from some dimensions which are their contents, aesthetic, production method, distribution method, and the relations between audiences. Every alternative media created with certain aims and purpose. For example, Malaysiakini was established for the journalists who dissatisfied with the biased news content and their objective is to fight the boundaries and test the press freedom (Wang, 2001). It shows that although the mainstream media has been restricted by the government, there are still some alternative media with different purposes for public to voice out their opinion. Therefore, the technology advancement and the rising of social media give a location that there is press freedom in the society.The may 1969 Riots The Idea of Press FreedomIn the 1969 general alternative, the ruling Alliance Party which includes UMNO, MCA and MIC nearly failed to gain a two-t hirds majority seats in the Dewan Rakyat for the first time (Zaharom Wang, n.d.). On the other hand, the resister parties managed to get the majority seats and the supports from public. The opposition parties involving DAP, Gerakan, PAS and formed a joint double-prong commission for two purposes which to prevent voting splitting and to campaign for each other by asking their supporters to select for anyone other than the Alliance Party (Lim, 2012). Therefore, it created a multi-ethnic society and certain most of the votes and grant wel rally from Malays.However, the government seemed to not have an contract with the situation. According to them, it was caused by the inflammatory speeches do by the political parties during the election campaign and made the oppositions parties staged the victory processions (Lee, 1995). This is why the government mat that their position and status had been little terrorened. To solve this situation, the King, advised by the government, decla red an necessity state in Malaysia. At the same time, all press publication were requested to shut down for two days starting from 16 May 1969 to inhibit the spread of propaganda (Zaharom Wang, n.d.). By the way, there are still some major newspapers were allowed to publish items but the news contents had to be censored by the government first. The press has completely controlled by the government and been restricted for two days although some of press were owned by backstage sector.Because of that, the journalists decided to revoke and fight for the press freedom. They noticed that the press freedom is important for the public to infrastand what is happening in our country. popular has the rights to know the truth behind the government. This is how does the press freedom idea come from.Control towards Press FreedomPrinting Presses and Publications Act (PPPA)The first law and regulation which controls the freedom of the press is the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) . This legislative impinges on the media effectiveness in playing its role as disseminator of information and watchdog over the government of the day (Wang, 2001). Cardinally, British colonial government introduced the Printing Presses and Publications Act as the Printing Ordinance 1948 at the graduation exercise of the emergency state, in order to resist Communist activities which seems as a threat to the establishment. This act again revised in 1971 because of the 13 May 1969 to provide powers and to revoke the publications license who aggravated the internal sensitivities and the development. constituent 3 requires all publication to apply for an annual publishing licence. It makes the printers and the publishers cannot retain their licenses by eliminating the renewal process. If not, they could have to face the prison destination for 3 years jail sentence. It also added some curbs in the act. For example, Section 8(A) (2) states that the published material to be malicious if the writer cannot prove that he/she had taken reasonable measures to verify the truth of the news. Because of this amended act, the government forever and a day use this act to straighten the media law and control the publication either directly or indirectly.According to Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani (2005), the reasons that the government wants to restrict the press freedom and introduces the PPPA in Malaysia are to ensure the orders and to limit the ability of external presses to exploit peoples attitudes and minds towards the government and country as a whole.In 1987, two national dailies, The Star and Sin Chew Jit Poh and a Malay bi-weekly, Watan had their licenses revoked because the press were taking sides in their coverage of the Chinese education and also supported the opposition parties by continuously provide transparent news coverage. In 1988, they resumed the publication again after some changes in chromatography column staff and a climate of self-censorship among the j ournalists which continued through the 1990s.Official security measure Act (OSA)Moreover, the Official inscrutables Act (OSA) is also yet another turn of legislation that has restricted the right freedom of the expression. It replaced the Malay States Official Secret Ordinance 1950 and was based on the British OSA 1911 and 1920. It can be known a statute inMalaysiaprohibiting the dissemination of information classified as an positive hidden. This act is related to the communication of sensitive information to non-authorized persons or foreign agents. Raja Aziz Addruse (1990), former chairman of the Malayan Bar Council, describes the Act as the antithesis of the freedom of speech and of citizens right to input on and discuss the government misconduct and incompetence.To exemplify, Section 2 in OSA defines authorised secret as any official letter, information, or material which is classified by the Minister and the Chief Minister of state or an appointed public officer as Top S ecret, Secret, Confidential, and curtail. Subsequent amendments to this Act have had the effect of making almost all official documents to be classified as official secret (Mustafa, 2002). The public does not have the right to speak out the voice as they are afraid they may be sued or even sentenced to jail. The journalists are also having the same situation too. They are not allowed to report or do any further investigation since the document has been labelled as secret by the Executive.Thus, many government officers use this as an pardon to cover things that cannot be exposed to the public such as bribery, relationship and power misusing and even the promiscuity. After that, they threatened the press to whitewash the truth so that the people will think that the government is truly practicing transparency and accountability. However, till then, this issue cannot be denied as it has been shown clearly through the daily newspaper and the related officers have gotten the punishment that they deserved.On 13 July 2007, Tan, a webmaster who works for the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, was arrested under Section 8 of OSA. He was suspected on possessing official secrets on his blog by connecting a link (http//jelas.info) which accused Deputy Internal security measures Minister Johari Baharum suspecting in a bribery allegations in exchange for the release of people detained under Malaysia Emergency Ordinance. It is a law that deals with the internal security which allows for clutch without trial. Because of this, Johari had been called for an official investigation while Tan may face one to septenary years bonds if he found guilty of violating the OSA.Internal warranter Act (ISA) Furthermore, another law and regulation which restrict the press freedom is the Internal Security Act (ISA). ISA can be known as a preventive detention law force in Malaysia which provides for without-trial detention and arbitrary arrest for a period (Mustafa, 2002). This act is orig inally enacted in the early 1960s during a national state of emergency which play its role as a temporary measure to fight for a communist rebellion. It is based on barely suspicion that one may be commit an act which may bring dangerous and threat to the national security. By the way, this act has be shown clearly that how did it function during Operation Lalang.The issue development of Operation Lalang also brought the second largest Internal Security Act (ISA) alight in Malaysian History since the 13 May riots. Other than the three mainstream newspapers licenses were revoked, a number of 106 people were also detained under ISA declaring for participating in activities prejudicial to the security of Malaysia. The detainees include the leader of the Opposition, Lim turnout Siang, ALIRAN president Dr Chandra Muzaffar, DAP Deputy ChairmanKarpal Singh and so forth as well as university lecturers, environmentalists, businessman and some members of UMNO (Operasi Lalang, n.d.). It broug ht the major breakdown in the Malaysia political history during that time.There is some other examples of ISA cases which happened in Malaysia. On 2010, thirteen journalists, including two Malaysians, were arrested under ISA because of participating in hunger strikes in May and June due to lack of news over their release. Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a blogger of the Malaysia Today website who was well known for publishing a series of commentary articles on Malaysian politics on the website, was alleged by the Minister of Home Affairs, Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar to be a threat to national security. On 11 April 2001, he was suspected for allegedly plotting to subvert the former Prime Minister Mahathir stack away Mohammad and was arrested under ISA. Then he was released after 52 days and again arrested for second time due to further investigation.Sedition ActIn 1948, the British colonial government enacted Sedition Act to fight with the Communists. The amendments were made through an Emer gency Ordinance 1971 after the riots of 1969. The aim is to illegalize any questioning on Part III (citizenship), Article 152 (national language), Article 153 (Malays prefer and the rights of other races) and Article 181 (Rulers sovereignty of the Federal Constitution) (Freedom of Expression, 2010).This act empowers the ministers or police to detain everyone who has been found guilty for spreading rebellious meanings or information which harm individuals, interest groups, societies and countries. Therefore, it limits the press freedom from publishing anything which seems like harming or threating the government officers. In history, the Sedition Act has been appealed against those critical of the government and the parliament members. Under this Act, if they found guilty, the parliament members can have their suspended parliamentary immunity. Over the years, many of them have been charged and found guilty under the Act. In 2009, the law has been played its role to arrest those w ho opposed to the Barisan content takeover of the Perak state government (Des Iskandar, 2014).To exemplify, University of Malaya law lecturer and columnist, Prof Dr. Azmi Sharom was charged under Sedition Act for his comments on the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis in an online news portal Malay Mail. He was arrested under Section 4(1) (b) which states officers who utters any rabble-rousing word will be fined for not exceeding RM5, 000 or imprisonment for not exceeding five years. Other than that, Malaysiakini online news portal journalist, Susan Loone also arrested under same act for publishing her phone interview with Penang executive councilor, Phee Boon Poh on the mass arrests of the states Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) on Merdeka Day since Phee is the EXCO who in charge of PPS.For the press, after the general election in 1999, PASs twice weekly party newspaper, Harakah editor Zulkifli Sulong and the printer Chea Lin Thye, owner of printing firm Syarikat Prema was arrested under Sediction Act for purposely publishing seditious material. Anwars lawyer, Karpal Singhwar also detained under the act because of allegedly seditious talking to in court.ConclusionAlthough our Malaysia is moving on to the developed-technology era with the rise of social media, most of the press still controlled and owned by the political parties or private sectors from different channels, either directly or indirectly. With the help of the social media, journalists still do not have the freedom to express what they really inform to tell the public. Therefore, the public seems like the frogs under the well who do not know what has happened to our government. Are they still practicing transparency and accountability? Do the government officers still doing something that we public do not know? Who can give us the answer? It is the journalists and the reporters If the government still restrict the press freedom, what is the value of publishing newspaper daily?There are some suggestions to enhance the press freedom in our country. Cardinally, it is necessary to reduce the parsimoniousness of media ownership towards the publication and social media (Zaharom Wang, n.d.). Less media ownerships attention help the news media to publish materials without concerning on the importance and the image of the private sector or political party but still requisite to obey the law enforcement as the responsibility of journalists. Furthermore,It is encouraged to invite new media actors enter the industry. It is crucial for new actors to provide alternative channels to express their opinions in an economically and socially-diverse society (Anil, 2002). Therefore, it able the public to think and comment on related issue with relevant examples and information critically.In a nutshell, promoting press freedom through the social media and mainstream media in our country is the most important and critical issue that the journalists should consider at the moment. Thus, we can develop an equal information flow and opinion between the government brass and the public.