Violations against media freedom and freedom of expression in Malaysia, 2007
Editorial Interference and
Legal threat against media
1 Editors told in a meeting
with Ministry of Internal
Security not to give
prominence to Hindraf and
to the images of police
violence during the rally.
(4 December)
2 Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin criticized
English daily theSun for
giving coverage to the march
organized by Bar Council,
accusing it as disregarding
the spirit of national unity at
a time when the country had
a few massive public rallies.
(Reported on 2 December)
Bloggers Intimidation Clampdown on Assemblies
Police interrogated blogger
Jeff Ooi for statement he made
as a guest commentator at Al-
Jazeera for the BERSIH rally
on Nov 10. Police reports were
made against him by three
groups affiliated with the
government.
(10 December)
Deputy Internal Security
Minister, Fu Ah Kiow revealed
in Parliament that 5 persons
are investigated by under the
Sedition Act for their postings
online, including Nathaniel
Tan and Wee Meng Chee.
(5 December)
Others
Five leaders of the Hindu Rights A photographer was assaulted
Action Force (Hindraf), P. by an UMNO member while
Uthayakumar, M Manoharan, R on duty covering an
Kenghadharan, V Ganabatirau, opposition’s charge of misuse
and T Vasanthakumar were of public funds by UMNO.
arrested under the ISA. (16 November)
Uthayakumar had earlier been
arrested thrice under the
Sedition Act and charged for
two counts of offences under the
law, since organizing the
Hindraf rally where 30, 000
people were estimated to have
turned up.
(13 December)
Police arrested 26 A journalist from Tamil daily
representatives and supporters Malaysian Nanban lodged a
of BERSIH within and outside police report after receiving
Parliament grounds for threats for his coverage on
submitting a memorandum to the state of Tamil schools.
Members of Parliament (13 October)
opposing an amendment to the
Constitution. The amendment
allows for the extension of the
tenure of the Election
Commission’s chairman.
(11 December)
 Editorial Interference &
Legal threat against media
3 Media instructed not to
report on the BERSIH rally
on Nov 10 and its aftermath.
(Unspecified date)
4 Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin gave
“advice” to news editors to
not publish news that was
unfavorable to the
government image, saying
the PM’s pledge to hear the
truth doesn’t apply to the
media.
(Reported on 12 October)
Bloggers Intimidation
Following a video on
YouTube of the national
anthem with rap lyrics
criticizing the government, its
producer, student Wee Meng
Chee was threatened with
action under Sedition Act and
revocation of his citizenship.
He subsequently apologized.
(7-22 August)
Vice-President of UMNO,
Muhyiddin Yassin called for
laws to be amended to enable
action against bloggers, who
are hitherto partially protected
by the Multimedia Bill of
Guarantees. (Reported on 13
August)
Clampdown on Assemblies
Police arrested and charged five
lawyers and three others for
leading the Bar Council march
despite not getting a permit. The
chairperson of the Bar Council’s
Human Rights Committee,
Edmond Bon was arrested and
charged for refusing to take
down a banner of the Bar
Council’s Human Rights
Festival. Police also arrested
opposition leaders Tian Chua
(Keadilan) and Mohammad
Sabu (PAS) and 12 others in
connection with the BERSIH
rally. (9 December)
31 people who assembled at the
Batu Caves in order to take part
in the Hindraf rally on
November 25, were re-arrested,
charged and denied bail for
attempted murder of a police
officer. 12 among them are also
charged for participating in an
illegal assembly.
(6 December)
Others
A journalist from the same
Tamil paper (Malaysian
Nanban), covering the same
issue was beaten to coma by
unknown assailants. (2
November)
The Anti-Corruption Agency
(ACA) threatened to
prosecute opposition
politician Sivarsasa Rasiah
and the party’s staff Sim if
they did not reveal within
seven days the identity of the
source of a video implicating
a senior lawyer in the fixing
of senior judiciary
appointments.
(Reported 5 October)
 Editorial Interference &
Legal threat against media
5 Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin twice
accused English daily theSun
as a pro Opposition paper.
(First accusation reported on
29 August, second on 4
September)
6 Ministry of Internal Security
directed media to stop
reporting responses to the
Deputy Prime Minister’s
assertion that the country is
an Islamic state. The media
were only allowed to report
the Prime Minister or the
Deputy PM’s view on the
issue.
(19 July)
Bloggers Intimidation
Ruhanie Ahmad, blogger and
member of the Backbenchers’
Club, lodged a police report
over a threat he received via
sms, which said that “bloggers
will be eliminated”.
(13 August)
Police questioned Marina Lee,
wife of blogger Raja Petra
Kamaruddin about content on
her husband's blog, Malaysia
Today, which UMNO alleged
has insulted the Supreme
Ruler, or Agong.
(7 August)
Clampdown on Assemblies
Due to police’s reluctance to
issue a permit, the Bar Council
called off its planned march
around the city to commemorate
International Human Rights
Day.
(4 December)
Six more were charged for
parcipating in the “illegal”
Hindraf rally. One of the
organizers, Ganapathi Rao was
re-arrested for offence under the
Sedition Act.
(29 Nov)
Others
Makkal Osai was suspended
for 30 days following the
publication of a picture of
Jesus holding a cigarette and
a canned drink. A complaint
was lodged by a youth wing
of controlling party
Malaysian Indian Congress
(MIC). Makkal Osai
published a public apology
for two days. (24 August)
New Straits Times terminated
the columns of activist
Zainah Anwar and
controversial filmmaker Amir
Muhammad. Last columns
appeared 2 August, and 27
July respectively. Zainah
Anwar is the director of NGO
Sisters in Islam, a group that
has been criticized by
UMNO, while Amir’s films
were twice banned by the
government.
 Editorial Interference &
Legal threat against media
7 De-facto law Minister Nazri
Aziz.Media reportedly
prevented media coverage of
a public hearing on crime in
Selangor, contrary to the
previous hearing in Johor.
The hearing was organized
by the Parliamentary Caucus
on human rights.
(12 July)
8 The Malaysian
Communications and
Multimedia Commission
(MCMC) directed private
TV and radio stations to
immediately stop
broadcasting speeches by
opposition. The letter was
signed by chairman Halim
Shafie, and gave no
justification.
(Reported on 29 June)
Bloggers Intimidation
Police questioned popular
blogger Raja Petra
Kamaruddin for eight hours
after a police report was made
against him by the UMNO
Information Chief, alleging
him for insulting the Agong
(25 July)
De-facto law Minister Nazri
Aziz threatened to use the ISA,
Sedition Act and Penal Code
against bloggers.
(Reported on 25 July)
Clampdown on Assemblies
88 were charged for
participating in the Hindraf rally
condemned as illegal.
(28 Nov)
PM threatened to invoke the
ISA against future rally
participants and those involved
in the recent rallies.
(27 Nov)
Others
Ministry of Internal Security
confiscated copies of a book
about the riots of May 13,
1969, from a major bookstore
in Klang Valley.
(15 May)
Local universities have set up
election-monitoring
committees to make sure
students do not get involved
in political activities of the
by-elections. Officials
followed students,
photographing and videoing
them without permission.
(Reported 27 April)
 Editorial Interference &
Legal threat against media
9 Borneo Post (Sarawak
Edition) reported that police
told crime reporters that
police permission must be
obtained to write and publish
a crime story, and that
information could only come
from police sources
including restrictions on
visiting crime scenes.
Anyone failing to observe
the restrictions could be
arrested under the Official
Secrets Act (OSA).
(22 June)
10 Sarawak Chief Minister
Abdul Taib Mahmud sued
two media organisations -
online news portal
Malaysiakini and Umno-
owned Utusan Malaysia - for
alleged defamation over the
timber kickbacks scandal.
(Reported 17 May)
Bloggers Intimidation
Blogger Nathaniel Tan was
detained by police for four
days for investigation under
the Official Secrets Act, over a
link to a website implicating
the deputy minister of internal
security of corruption. The link
was put in his blog by an
anonymous commentator.
(13 July).
On the same day as Nathaniel
Tan was arrested, deputy
minister of internal security
Johari Baharum instructed
police to investigate bloggers
who “spread lies”. His
instruction came a day after he
was cleared by the Anti
Corruption Agency (ACA) of
corruption charges, which
surfaced in an anonymous
website.
Clampdown on Assemblies
Police broke the Hindraf rally
by firing tear gas and water
canon. Reports said 136 people
were remanded, of which 69
were arrested before they
participated at the rally venue.
They were taken at Batu Caves
where they gathered in the
morning. All of them were
released on 27 Nov.
(25 November)
Police arrested three key
organizers/leaders ahead of the
Hindraf rally under the Sedition
Act
(23 November)
Others
A journalist covering the
nominations for the Machap
by-election, R.Malini was
hurled vulgarities by
members of the ruling Indian
party MIC. Photographer
Malayandi was allegedly
pushed and punched by an
MIC official, SA
Vigneswaran, who is also the
Parliamentary Secretary for
the Youth and Sports
Ministry.
(3 April)
Kelantan banned public
performance of a traditional
dance because elements of
the dance are against Islamic
teaching. This dance has
been banned since 1992,
despite being a UNESCO
listed heritage. (1 March)
 Editorial Interference &
Legal threat against media
11 Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin issued a
statement to mainstream
press reiterating the earlier
warning from the Ministry of
Internal Security to not
publish information from the
Internet, specifically blogs.
(21 March)
12 The Internal Security
Ministry sent a circular to
media directing them not to
quote from blogs. The
warning comes amidst an
investigation on the deputy
minister of internal security
on corruption charges which
first broke out in the
blogosphere. (13 March)
Bloggers Intimidation
The Multimedia and
Communication Commission
(MCMC) launched an
investigation against blogger
and Information Chief of PKR,
Tian Chua, after a complaint
was filed by UMNO Youth,
for publication of a photo
montage portraying the deputy
prime minister negatively.
This was related to an ongoing
murder trial. (10 July)
The Cabinet decided to set up
a taskforce to study how
existing laws can be used
against blogs and websites. It
will look into expanding the
jurisdiction of the Sedition Act
to include blogs and other
online content. (Reported on
15 June)
Clampdown on Assemblies
Tear gas and chemical laced
water were fired at participants
at the massive BERSIH rally.
Before the event started,
roadblocks were mounted to
block people from entering the
city where the rally was going
to be held. Human right group
Suaram reported 34 were
arrested, though the police
claimed 245 in the media.
(10 November)
Police used tear gas and live
ammunition on participants of
the BERSIH rally in Batu
Burok, Terengganu. Two
participants were shot and
wounded. Police had refused a
permit for the talk which had
been a traveling road show and
without prior untoward incident.
(9 September)
Others
National Censorship Board
banned Taiwan-based
Malaysian filmmaker Tsai
Ming Liang's latest film “I
don’t want to sleep alone”.
The film depicts urban poor
and the haze in Kuala
Lumpur among other issues.
Due to public outcry, the ban
was lifted after the scenes
were cut. (31 Jan)
Prime Minister threatened to
prosecute four members of
opposition political parties
under the Official Secrets Act
for revealing the
concessionaire agreements
for a highway toll operator,
contradicting his agreement
to uphold an open,
transparent and accountable
government.
(10 January)
 Editorial Interference & Bloggers Intimidation Clampdown on Assemblies Others
Legal threat against media

13 The Ministry of Internal
Security warned the
opposition paper Harakah for
having transgressed licensing
conditions, which are not
spelt out specifically. It
mentioned the publication of
“speculative” articles and
threatened “strict action”
against the paper. (15
February)
Bloggers Jeff Ooi and
Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky’s
Bru) were sued by the New
Straits Times Press. NSTP has
called for the removal of
postings from both blogs that
they see as defamatory.
(23 January)
Deputy Minister of Human
Resources threatened to
deregister the Malaysian Trade
Union Congress (MTUC) after
the union staged a nationwide
picket in June to demand for
minimum wages. The Minister
also accused the Union as
harboring an anti-government
agenda.
(28 August)
Internal Security Ministry
tore pages of the Economist
article “Born of Fire” about
Muslims in Afghanistan and
Somalia believing in the
existence of genies.
(10 January)

14 Some cases of bloggers Police canceled the permit for a

harassment were less overt: In
October, M. Bakri Musa, a
surgeon based in US wrote
about the warning from a
police friend against him
returning to Malaysia, and that
his close friends being
interviewed by the Special
Branch.
meeting organized by the
Coalition Against Water
Privatization and several
religious groups on the rights to
water. The meeting was
scheduled for 10 August.
(4 August)

Prepared by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)

16 December 2007