KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that he would rather be censored by the government than to lose even more freedom in alternative media that could be manipulated.
The former prime minister pointed out in his blog chedet.cc that videos on Korean superstar Psy's recent show in Penang - which showed the crowd shouting "No" to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, but "Yes" to the the latter's question of whether the crowd was ready for Psy - were doctored.
"I lost the freedom of the media even more than when (the) government could deprive me of my freedom," Dr Mahathir (picture) wrote in his blog chedet.cc today.
"Frankly I would rather have the government censoring me...if I don't like what the government is doing, I can work for the rejection of the party which forms the government. But there is nothing I can do to stop people who may wish to deprive me of my freedom through the alternative media," he added.
Dr Mahathir said that the videos on Psy, which went viral on Facebook, had been "engineered" by equipping a "special group" with video cameras and microphones who later shouted "No" to Najib's question to the crowd on whether they were ready for Barisan Nasional (BN).
Dr Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22 years until 2003, had once promised that Malaysia would never censor the Internet in any way as part of a pledge to draw investors to develop the Multimedia Super Corridor.
He had repeated this stand last at the Third Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit in 2011, although he then suggested disciplinary action on some aspects of Internet abuse.
Dr Mahathir, however, said last June that Putrajaya should rethink absolute freedom on the Internet.
He said that countries should enforce some form of regulatory control to block "filth" and punish those who corrupt the minds of Internet users.
Dr Mahathir also noted today that "the truth can also be made to look like lies", highlighting a sex video allegedly featuring Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with a prostitute, but did not specify his then-deputy's name.
"After an opposition leader was shown with a girl obviously having some kind of sexual relations, it was made to be a lie by showing how a video clip can be doctored," said Dr Mahathir.
He also pointed out that his blog has been hacked five times.
"People could not access my blog and effectively I was silenced," said the longest-serving prime minister in Malaysian history.
Dr Mahathir claimed that people were free to write anything in the alternative media as it was not controlled by editors.
"The freedom is almost total. This is the essence of democracy?" he questioned.
Dr Mahathir also said that pornography has exploited the freedom of alternative media.
"There is no censorship. And so children and young people now have access to this filth. The effect is to undermine their morals completely," he said.
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