The end of Malaysia’s free media
You right to know the truth has been stolen
PH-UMNO have embarked upon a plan to fund online news portals. With the dire financial situation many are facing, most have little choice to accept. Independent journalists within these portals are being removed, if they don’t comply with the new editorial line. The MCMC now has more influence upon the media than it ever has.
Most stories coming through the media are now just press releases or superficial reports of what the prime minister said at some official event.
Early last year in a bizarre live Tik Tok event, communication minister Fahmi Fadzil threatened viewers that there would be a police car outside your house if you were critical of him and the government.
In the 2024 RSF Press Freedom Index, Malaysia fell from 73rd position to 107th, a massive fall of 34 places. Fahmi Fadzil initially brushed this off by criticising the methodology of Reporters Without Borders.
Over the last year there has been a number of websites critical of the government permanently blocked inside Malaysia. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has worked very closely with most social media platforms to censor or deactivate accounts to those critical of the government.
Suppressing press freedom
Government owned and controlled media like Bernama and RTM are used to promote the government narrative on issues such as the sale of 30 percent of Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB) to a BlackRock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
Over the last 12 months online news portals have practiced strong self-censorship in fear of retribution. Government ministries and agencies requests for articles to be taken down are mostly obliged, and editors fear legal action from the MCMC for articles broaching 3Rs (race, religion, royalty) issues.
Journalists who criticise government or uncover corruption are in danger of being hit with a 3Rs investigation by the police, that may lead to charges of sedition. Consequently, very few journalists in Malaysia are able to bring up critical issues relating to the government in fear of persecution.
Concerns increased when the government reduced the validity of media cards for journalists from online news agencies, while the opposition news agency Harakah lost the right to the accreditation. Media card accreditation is now dependent upon journalists complying with a new code of ethics developed by the Information Department (Japen) under the Ministry of Communications.
Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil recently commented there is an organized movement by certain parties to disseminate false information on social media platforms. It looks like the government plans to continue muzzling the media.
Malaysians had more opportunities 20 years ago to read the truth about what was happening in Malaysia. With most foreign news portals now blocked, its very hard for Malaysians to know the truth.
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Wow, it's really something how emboldened governments are around the world to impose censorship. It's a worldwide effort. This must have been planned at the many secret meetings where governments collude with powerful corporations.
Neither Malaysia nor the US from where this fiction of democracy and freedom of expression derives has there ever been a free press. Free from what? Free of what? Free from Who? Free of who? or Free to do what, to Whom and what.
During the hey day of the Reformasi movement and the Bersih, anti Mahathir days leading to the anti UMNO campaigns fuelled by the Chinese in Malaysia, the "free press" consisted of US and British funded online rags and propaganda platforms. That included the Malaysian Bar and their publications.
These were such icons of "press freedoms" that they would censor or refuse to publish any contrarian opinion if it caught them out publishing rumour, propaganda and narratives devoid of fact.
So why is it now newsworthy to claim that you believe "this is the end of the "free" media in Malaysia"?
Each of those time wasting shallow so called "citizens media" platforms were self serving mainly Chinese and American funded rags. Good ridddance to bad rubbish.
I have said that propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation have always been part of political warfare. Social media and other new platforms have given it a new life and reach through which the fake news phenomenon can reach everywhere.
When asked why he allowed News Limited and Fox to write such untruths when they were meant to be news journals Rupert Murdoch responded "who told you we were news journals? We are in the business of entertainment".
Perhaps its time the Malays dominated the narratives in the media and not the Chinese, Indians or the non Malay non Muslims.
The shoe always hurts when on the other foot.