Decreasing press freedom under Anwar’s watch
Freedom of speech under attack
Many believed that when Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister freedom of speech and press freedoms would be liberalized. Many of the older generation remember when the ‘Free Anwar Movement’ and later ‘Reformasi Movement’ had limited press circulation via the DAP’s The Rocket and PAS’s Harakah. They were both highly restricted and sort after at the time. The internet of the early 2000s had sites like ‘Free Anwar’, which gave birth to political blogging in Malaysia. Articles had to be printed off and secretly distributed to people in Mosques and coffee shops.
Many believed Anwar would have at least been “Bapa Free speech” (The father of free speech) during his era as prime minister.
Anwar has taken a page from Singapore’s PAP political playbook
The late Lee Kwan Yew and his son Lee Hsien Loong have used defamation suits against their political enemies to both silence and bankrupt them. Pakatan Harapan uses the same strategy to suppress free speech.
This has become Anwar’s weapon of choice in suppressing free speech, so much so, he is now being coined “Bapa Saman Negara”, or the nation’s father of suits, taking a pun on the honorific names previous prime ministers are respected by.
Anwar, as a public figure is taking civil action against PAS MP Awang Hashim, over his alleged statement that “Tambun MP (Anwar) is more vindictive than former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamed”, and the claim over the legitimacy of Anwar’s appointment as the 10th prime minister, allegedly made in the parliamentary lobby.
Selangor PKR has threatened to sue the media over the uncovering of the Maritime Gateway project, where Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari has given over generous terms to a Selangor state joint venture with Berjaya Corporation. Many investigative journalists have found the same with the Penang DAP government.
As public figures, criticisms and investigations into government business should be allowed for the sake of transparency and good government. This is not the case with the Anwar government.
A Royal Commission into a book published three years ago
During the final days of the Ismail Sabri government, the attorney general Idrus Harun was instructed to undertake an investigation into former attorney general Tommy Thomas’ book “My Story: Justice in the wilderness”. Most assumed that this investigation would have just been dropped after Anwar came to power. However, in January the new law minister Azalina Othman announced that terms of reference would be drawn up for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into his book published three years ago.
The Anwar government has set a precedent that any author of a book or article can be retrospectively investigated.
A troll army shooting down any perceived criticisms of Anwar
Since the last election, there has been a group of writers who rebut perceived criticisms of Anwar and are active in the comments sections of online news portals attacking negative articles about the Anwar government. Some are those who sincerely believe Anwar should be given a chance and therefore above criticism. While others are part of a paid dark army of trolls and bots, realigned from the DAP and PKR cybertrooprs to take on these new tasks.
Online portals forced to practice self-censorship
Malaysian culture has created an atmosphere of self-censorship. News portals are extremely hesitant to publish articles that could be deemed by the Anwar government as hostile. Political secretaries use their network of relationships with portal editors to influence the boundaries of what is and what isn’t acceptable. Political secretaries request news portal editors to modify articles already published, or even pull them from their sites.
Major news portals are collaborating with the staff of PH ministers to censor or even pull articles off their websites
Many government agencies block access to journalists. Journalists, on the whole take the safe way in just publishing what ministries provide them. Some have found it is financially beneficial to do so as well. This creates a major barrier to real investigative journalism, which acts as a check against corruption.
Journalists are well aware of the civil defamation laws. In Malaysia there are also criminal deformation laws the attorney general can utilize to silence any journalists who get close to the truth. The biggest deterrent are the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, where a journalist can be detained for up to 28 days, while the police undertake investigations. While detained, those in custody are held in spartan conditions that would break the spirit of most.
SOSMA can be used to intimidate journalists.
Persecution of those making comments on social media continues today under the Anwar administration. The following window describes Sudhagaran’s interrogation by the police just in the last few days.
During the 2018 general election Pakatan Harapan promised SOSMA would be reviewed and even abolished. However, the home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said there will be no review of the SOSMA laws, just two weeks into his job.
Does this guy look like a libertarian to you?
The worst is yet to come
The Anwar administration has just announced it will review the Communication and Multimedia Act 1988 (CMA) to ‘curb unethical journalism’, which the government will be the judge of what is ethical and unethical. Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said in the Dewan Rakyat that the act would be amended to provide a more stringent regulatory framework.
The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) director Wathshlah Naidu said a stricter act ‘should not undermine the freedom of speech or media freedom in Malaysia’. The Foreign Correspondents Club of Malaysia (FCCM) is also concerned with the minister’s stance on amending the CMA to tackle unethical journalism. These types of laws in the past have been used against journalists.
Speaking and writing on issues of public concern is still flaunt with risks in Malaysia. Malaysia is still only 113 in the Reporters Without Borders World 2022 Press Freedom Index. The hesitancy of the Anwar government to lift charges against a blogger indicates the environment of freedom of speech is no different than before.
During his time as opposition leader, Anwar criticized Former prime minister Ismail Sabri for not doing enough to protect freedom of speech. Anwar urged all Malaysians to condemn criminal defamation charges against two editors of The Edge back in September 2022. Anwar went on to say that ‘UMNO is launching an assault on the media by attacking the messengers’. Anwar’s full press statement can be accessed here. Reports coming in (see box) indicate Anwar is not following up on his promises.
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Anyone who was in umno will not change. They may join a different party, but all that benefit from the parasitic economy dr m built will now flow to current leadership,as it did during previous leaderships. That why there were no economic reform as these umno goons know how the game is played.
Anyone who supported Bersih, the Tommy Thomas club and other anti government, Reformasi, Regime Change deserve what they get with Anwar's ideas of reformation. They deserve to be punished severely and have their liberties curtailed.
It is not as if the lessons were not out there for these groups to learn from. The NED funds and uses you till it achieves its goals then dumps and destroys you. Bersih's many supporters were filmed and identified using AI to achieve this mass identification objective in order to use them for future reference and quick arrest and prosecution. Anwar's handlers were the ones filming and identifying protesters from the Bersih crowds in KL and other major cities.
They did it in the Philippines during the anti Marcos protests, during the anti Mubarak protests that toppled government in Egypt, they did it in Thailand with the Red Shirts and the Yellow shirts.
Many protesters simply disappeared in Egypt never to be seen or head from again. The same in Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya. The same in Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia.
None of these loud mouths and acolytes of the NED and their offspring will be spared. Their destruction will come slowly. Tommy Thomas is a red herring. But if it turns out to be something real no one should shed a tear for that partly educated imbeccile.