Malaysia down in press freedom index PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) notes with concern Malaysia's drastic drop in this year's Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in which the country now ranked at 124, a drop of 32 places from year 2006 where it occupied the 92nd spot. It is worrying to note that the decline has been precedented by an improvement in the 2006 index, in which Malaysia climbed up 21 notches from 2005.

 

However, CIJ agrees with the RSF's observation in its annual report about Malaysia, and our monitoring in the area reveal a consistent trend in the following areas;

  • the harassment of bloggers through police detention, questioning, defamation suit, as well as warning by the country's top leadership.

  • constant interference by the Executive in editorial decisions, now in the form of official letters to editors from the Ministry of Internal Security and other verbal "advice"

  • limiting certain topics, deemed sensitive to the administration, such as race and religion, corruption in the higher echelons, and the secular/Islamic state debate from public discussions through government directives to the media and the public.

The Index by RSF affirms our position that the administration of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi still has a long way to go to realizing its pledge for more openness and transparency. We recommend the following actions be taken immediately to arrest the declining levels of press freedom in the country;

  • set up a parliamentary select committee on media freedom with a view, among others, towards repealing the Printing Presses and the Publications Act 1984

  • stop Executive interference in editorial decisions

  • stop using national security laws, such as the Sedition Act, Internal Security Act and Official Secrets Act, which are widely criticized for being extremely broad-worded, against bloggers.

Please quote CIJ Executive Director Gayathry Venkiteswaran. For more inquiries, please call 03-40230772

 
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