The only sin The Heat committed – Chang Teck Peng

I was not shocked at all to learn that The Heat received a show-cause letter from the Home Ministry and subsequently have its publication permit suspended indefinitely, following its front-page coverage of an article criticising the “spendthrift” Prime Minister and his wife. 

Neither was it a surprise that the weekly would become the first victim of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1987 (PPPA) after its amendment in April 2012, hailed by Prime Minister Najib as an important steps to boost media freedom 

The PPPA amendment, among others, repealed the provision of annual renewal of publication permit.  As I had pointed out in an article published in Chinese-medium merdekareview.com in 2011, the one and only benefit of the PPPA amendment for newspaper publishers was a mere save up of RM3,000 that they would have spent annually for permit application. My rationale was that as long as the Home Minister continues to hold the power to revoke publication permit at any time, the threat to media freedom will never be eliminated.

The Heat has done a good job in highlighting the squandering of public funds by the prime minister and wife for public scrutiny.  But it has, undoubtedly, been an intolerable act of crossing the red line in the eye of Umno-led government.  Under intense competition, traditional media will occasionally be "brave enough" to highlight one or two controversial issues and carry critical comments on the power-that-be, as a way of beefing up sales. 

Be that as it may, there has been an unspoken practice among traditional media to avoid criticising "powerful" members of cabinet such as Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Home Minister (and his deputy), who are key decision makers in determining the life and death of a print media.

In past cases, the occasionally outspoken newspaper(s) that received warning letter from the home ministry, were spared from "execution" after explanation and/or apology was made, if not by way of sacking/reshuffling their editorial staffing. 

In the case of The Heat, the only sin that it has committed was transgressing the ruling party's limits – the "top leader" is sacrosanct and no criticism of him should be tolerated.  Najib Tun Razak is no different from Mahathir Mohamad in such authoritarian mentality and practices.  The return of Mahathirism is no joke and unfortunately, The Heat is only the first sacrificial lamb at the altar of new authoritarian rule under Najib.

As such, it is not difficult to understand why the government wanted to get rid of The Heat.  While indeed the "big-spending" issue in general and the use of government jet by Rosmah Mansor in particular had come under fire from opposition parties, and led to the vengeance of suspension imposed on The Heat.  But more critically, Najib administration does not want to see such practices of challenging the top leader of Umno to ferment out of control amongst working journalists in traditional media. 

On the other hand, the mushrooming of news portals has put a tremendous competitive pressure on print media – widely considered as pro-establishment and practicing severe self-censorship – not only in terms of their credibility and accountability in performing the role of watchdog, but also in terms of their free falling circulation.  Under such circumstances, it leaves the print media with not many options but to attempt to match their online competitors in reporting "undesired" issues and to critically comment on the flaws of the ruling parties, in the hope that such measures will restore the confidence of readers and regain their market share. 

If print media were to be allowed to develop in such direction, the Umno-led ruling coalition will face the risk of having more of their scandals, be it political or financial, exposed to general public and in the long run creating another crisis of authority for Barisan Nasional.  The severe setbacks suffered by the ruling coalition in the last two general elections have intensified their sense of desperation.  To put The Heat on the guillotine is to deter other print media from going down on the same path. 

With such fate befallen on The Heat, it will be no surprise if traditional media continue to behave themselves like a tame kitten, rather than a watchdog.

*Chang Teck Peng is a former journalist and now media academic.