Overall, the state of freedom of expression in 2007 marks a further deterioration compared to 2006. While 2006 was highlighted by the suspension of newspapers due to the Muhammad caricature, the closure of public discussion on race and religion initiated by the Article 11 coalition, and the censorship on books and film, 2007 was the year of persecution and clampdown on people who use alternative platforms for expression, such as bloggers and street assemblies, and increasing media interference to tighten the flow of information.

These three trends are distinct in 2007. Editorial interference by the government were prevalent throughout the year, while harassment of bloggers increased both in frequency and severity during the second half of the year. The last two months of 2007 witnessed a surge of crackdown on public assemblies, culminating in the invocation of the Internal Security Act (ISA) against five leaders of the Hindus Rights Action Force (HINDRAF)

Tightening the media space

Interference in media reporting by official directives, warnings, "advice" and harassment continued to be one the biggest trends in Malaysia. The principal givers of directives were the Ministry of Internal Security, headed by the Prime Minister himself and the Ministry of Information, headed by Minister Zainuddin Maidin. However, the year also saw a number of other state actors exerting control over media content. They ranged from the police and the Law Minister, Nazri Aziz who tried to bar media coverage on crime, to the Chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Halim Shafie who ordered broadcasters against giving airtime for speeches by the opposition political parties. This was however reversed by the Minister of Energy, Water and Communication, Lim Keng Yaik.

The "no coverage" orders by the Internal Security Ministry and Information Ministry to the media were prompted by various issues of the day, ranging from what was being discussed in the political blogs to the assemblies by BERSIH (a coalition of political parties and non-governmental groups on free and fair elections) and HINDRAF. The bans were sometimes selective. For example, the media was barred from reporting responses and outcry over the Deputy Prime Minister’s proclamation that Malaysia is an Islamic state despite its secular constitution. In a letter, it was stated that only the views of the Prime Minister and his deputy on this issue should prevail in the print media. This was at the expense of other Barisan Nasional component parties, which also felt strongly against the DPM’s statement. In the HINDRAF issue, statements by UMNO leaders continued to receive coverage despite an order by the authorities to play the issue down. This demonstrates that the level of dominance over the media is certainly not uniform across the ruling parties. In the meantime, the Information Ministry has been vocal in attacking bolder or independent media, despite it having no power to censure the media. The Minister has twice attacked theSun, an English daily known for pushing the boundaries. It also attacked international new agency, Al Jazeera for its live report on police violence during the BERSIH rally.