When former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad established the Multimedia Super Corridor in 1996, he had given the undertaking that the government would not censor the Internet. I am sure that he did not anticipate that his stand would lead to proliferation of news portals such as TMI, FMT, TNG, MT which have been publishing critical stories and commentaries which one seldom see in the MSM. Whereas in the past Malaysians had to depend on foreign newspapers for more vocal coverage of news, all they need to do now is to log on to homegrown sites.
Such a development has made it for the government to control the volume/type of information available to netizens. Indirectly, with more exposes, public figures and politicians are now under the scrutiny of the public.
According to the International Communication Union, there are 16,902,600 Internet users in Malaysia as of June, 2009, 64.6% of the population.
“They have lost the monopoly on truth,” said Steven Gan, editor in chief of Malaysiakini told NYT.“For a long time, the government had complete control over the news agenda through the control of the mainstream media. That is gone. They can continue to tell the mainstream media what to report, but that doesn’t stop Malaysians from knowing that there’s another version of the truth out there, and they get it from the Internet.”
NYT reported that during the Bersih rally, Malaysiakini received 5.2 million hits, making the day one of the site’s busiest since it was established in 1999.
On August 15th, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government would review its current media censorship laws, stressing that it was no longer an “effective” method in the current era. He cited the example of an article by British weekly The Economist on the July 9 Bersih rally, which was censored by his administration but readily available online, and admitted that the act of censorship brought about negative publicity.
Following that disclosure, Jahabar Sadiq, Editor of TMI, said that move was a a sign of the PM returning to the centre "to put some space between himself and hardliners in government, especially Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein".
DPM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin clarified that the government would implement a special system to “monitor” the media, and that this mechanism will eventually replace censorship laws saying that it was becoming increasingly difficult to exercise censorship control in a “world without borders.”
“We will not filter (the media), but a monitoring system will be put in place.
“A person’s individual freedom cannot outweigh the freedom of the general public. As an elected government, we have to be careful about the freedom in cyberspace," he told reporters on August 16th.
When asked how the government planned to monitor various media in the country, Muhyiddin said that there was “no one answer to it”, but did not elaborate further.
The Home Minister said HERE that the Home Ministry will review the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) but will stand firm on issues involving race and religion.
Pakatan leaders who responded HERE raised the familiar issues of concern shared by many who believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Lestor Kong's (The Singapore Straits Times) analytical review HERE is worth a read and has been widely carried by other news portals, including The Jakarta Globe.
Extract from that article:
Malaysia’s print press is subject to the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA), which requires all newspapers and magazines to obtain an annually-renewed permit from the Home Ministry before they are allowed to publish print content. According to the PPPA, reporting in the print media can be punished under the “national security” clause. Inaccurate news is termed “false news” and is punishable with a one-year imprisonment.
As such, critics of the Act have described the PPPA as the Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of publishers and editors which could be exploited by the government to control dissent. Some have argued that the Act has stifled political debate and mainstream journalists have been forced to practise self-censorship.
In sharp contrast, the 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act has different objectives. It was in November 1998, that Malaysia enacted two new legislations to give effect to the new regulatory model: the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which set out a new regulatory licensing framework for a convergent communications and multimedia industry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act (1998) which provided for the establishment of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on 1 November 1998. Read more here.
Today, the perception of what IS news or truth is no longer in the hands of the MSM which generally has a different emphasis and coverage due to editorial policies. We all know the indisputable role of bloggers and news websites in the 2008 General Elections but a new wave is coming!!
Unlike in the past where citizens could fall for news reports, with the speed of the internet, readers can test the veracity and character of news reports by cross-checking with different websites and interacting with other like-minded netizens in forums or online notice-boards. Of course there are other laws such as the Sedition Act which could be applied to control net content and writers. However, the main weakness seems to be the lack of consistency in way legislation has been enforced. And that has been to their own undoing.
The recent disclosure about the media censorship review is in sharp contrast to statements made in April this year. Read This article to see what I mean.
Whatever the case, I believe that civil society has evolved so much that even though the Internet is still a very strong influence on political perception, we cannot discount the impact and reach of social networking media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and mobile telephony - the source of the new wave that will sweep our nation in the next elections!
Please read The Impact of Technology on Political Communication @ The New York Observer.
Watch this video clip that gives a concise rundown of the impact of mobile phones on government and politics.
Watch Political Effects of the New Media with Dr. Catie Snow Bailard.
The mobile phone has unlimited possibilities and is said to be changing governments and used effectively in elections. Citizen journalism is taking governments by storm and more and more people have a voice via all that mobile telephony can offer.
Even if there is a clampdown on news sites or other online sites, I believe that text messaging will be an important phase in political communication in the months to come. Click here to visit this link for more examples of the role of texting in politics.
Suffice to say that the next elections will see a different style of campaigning with a powerful combo of internet and mobile telephony. Everyone can play a part in the campaigning to engage as many for the next elections - via the net and mobile networks. For sure, our experience in the next GE will see as many, especially those in the rural areas, enjoying the benefits of mobile connectivity to enhance our experience of political campaigns, offering us more freedom, and ultimately creating a better society in which our rakyat can feel that they are moving towards a better Malaysia via their messages sent via sms, emails or social network media with a declining dependence on blogs and even online websites.
In short, it will be a case whereby each concerned citizen will be campaigning within their own sphere to make that difference. Goodbye intimidation and repression!
And it is really up to all of us to be part of that new wave of change. Let's do it because CHANGE IS IMPERATIVE!
Recommended Reading:
1. Utusan Malaysia - Read about it here in the Criticisms section.
2. Malaysiakini and the Cowhead videos
3. The Day they took away our computers
4. Muzzle on Muddled Mess
5. New Media in Malaysia - Truth or Lies?
Such a development has made it for the government to control the volume/type of information available to netizens. Indirectly, with more exposes, public figures and politicians are now under the scrutiny of the public.
According to the International Communication Union, there are 16,902,600 Internet users in Malaysia as of June, 2009, 64.6% of the population.
“They have lost the monopoly on truth,” said Steven Gan, editor in chief of Malaysiakini told NYT.“For a long time, the government had complete control over the news agenda through the control of the mainstream media. That is gone. They can continue to tell the mainstream media what to report, but that doesn’t stop Malaysians from knowing that there’s another version of the truth out there, and they get it from the Internet.”
NYT reported that during the Bersih rally, Malaysiakini received 5.2 million hits, making the day one of the site’s busiest since it was established in 1999.
On August 15th, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government would review its current media censorship laws, stressing that it was no longer an “effective” method in the current era. He cited the example of an article by British weekly The Economist on the July 9 Bersih rally, which was censored by his administration but readily available online, and admitted that the act of censorship brought about negative publicity.
Following that disclosure, Jahabar Sadiq, Editor of TMI, said that move was a a sign of the PM returning to the centre "to put some space between himself and hardliners in government, especially Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein".
DPM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin clarified that the government would implement a special system to “monitor” the media, and that this mechanism will eventually replace censorship laws saying that it was becoming increasingly difficult to exercise censorship control in a “world without borders.”
“We will not filter (the media), but a monitoring system will be put in place.
“A person’s individual freedom cannot outweigh the freedom of the general public. As an elected government, we have to be careful about the freedom in cyberspace," he told reporters on August 16th.
When asked how the government planned to monitor various media in the country, Muhyiddin said that there was “no one answer to it”, but did not elaborate further.
The Home Minister said HERE that the Home Ministry will review the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) but will stand firm on issues involving race and religion.
Pakatan leaders who responded HERE raised the familiar issues of concern shared by many who believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Lestor Kong's (The Singapore Straits Times) analytical review HERE is worth a read and has been widely carried by other news portals, including The Jakarta Globe.
Extract from that article:
"In today's borderless, interconnected world, censoring newspapers and magazines is increasingly outdated, ineffective and unjustifiable," Mr Najib had said. "I am determined to ensure that Malaysia has a media environment fit to serve our democratic system."
Malaysia’s print press is subject to the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA), which requires all newspapers and magazines to obtain an annually-renewed permit from the Home Ministry before they are allowed to publish print content. According to the PPPA, reporting in the print media can be punished under the “national security” clause. Inaccurate news is termed “false news” and is punishable with a one-year imprisonment.
As such, critics of the Act have described the PPPA as the Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of publishers and editors which could be exploited by the government to control dissent. Some have argued that the Act has stifled political debate and mainstream journalists have been forced to practise self-censorship.
In sharp contrast, the 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act has different objectives. It was in November 1998, that Malaysia enacted two new legislations to give effect to the new regulatory model: the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which set out a new regulatory licensing framework for a convergent communications and multimedia industry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act (1998) which provided for the establishment of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on 1 November 1998. Read more here.
Today, the perception of what IS news or truth is no longer in the hands of the MSM which generally has a different emphasis and coverage due to editorial policies. We all know the indisputable role of bloggers and news websites in the 2008 General Elections but a new wave is coming!!
Unlike in the past where citizens could fall for news reports, with the speed of the internet, readers can test the veracity and character of news reports by cross-checking with different websites and interacting with other like-minded netizens in forums or online notice-boards. Of course there are other laws such as the Sedition Act which could be applied to control net content and writers. However, the main weakness seems to be the lack of consistency in way legislation has been enforced. And that has been to their own undoing.
The recent disclosure about the media censorship review is in sharp contrast to statements made in April this year. Read This article to see what I mean.
Whatever the case, I believe that civil society has evolved so much that even though the Internet is still a very strong influence on political perception, we cannot discount the impact and reach of social networking media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and mobile telephony - the source of the new wave that will sweep our nation in the next elections!
Please read The Impact of Technology on Political Communication @ The New York Observer.
Watch this video clip that gives a concise rundown of the impact of mobile phones on government and politics.
Watch Political Effects of the New Media with Dr. Catie Snow Bailard.
The mobile phone has unlimited possibilities and is said to be changing governments and used effectively in elections. Citizen journalism is taking governments by storm and more and more people have a voice via all that mobile telephony can offer.
Even if there is a clampdown on news sites or other online sites, I believe that text messaging will be an important phase in political communication in the months to come. Click here to visit this link for more examples of the role of texting in politics.
Suffice to say that the next elections will see a different style of campaigning with a powerful combo of internet and mobile telephony. Everyone can play a part in the campaigning to engage as many for the next elections - via the net and mobile networks. For sure, our experience in the next GE will see as many, especially those in the rural areas, enjoying the benefits of mobile connectivity to enhance our experience of political campaigns, offering us more freedom, and ultimately creating a better society in which our rakyat can feel that they are moving towards a better Malaysia via their messages sent via sms, emails or social network media with a declining dependence on blogs and even online websites.
In short, it will be a case whereby each concerned citizen will be campaigning within their own sphere to make that difference. Goodbye intimidation and repression!
And it is really up to all of us to be part of that new wave of change. Let's do it because CHANGE IS IMPERATIVE!
Recommended Reading:
1. Utusan Malaysia - Read about it here in the Criticisms section.
2. Malaysiakini and the Cowhead videos
3. The Day they took away our computers
4. Muzzle on Muddled Mess
5. New Media in Malaysia - Truth or Lies?
-masterwordsmith
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.