By blasting Kadir, Anwar sends wrong signals on press freedom

By blasting A Kadir Jasin’s recent blog as disparaging to the monarchy, prime minister-in-waiting, Anwar Ibrahim, is sending the wrong signals about press freedom that has been promised by the new Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Worse still, Anwar’s outburst has encouraged vigilante elements, like Perkasa, an extreme Malay-Muslim group tolerated for so long by the ousted Umno/BN regime, to come out of the woodwork.

Although not mentioning Kadir by name, Perkasa has threatenedto “act aggressively” against anyone deemed to have insulted the monarchy.

Instead of chiding Kadir, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has decided to wade into the controversy by saying he’s not against royals but wants to save them from rakyat’s anger, presumably alluding to the palace's undue delay in swearing Mahathir in as the seventh PM and Tommy Thomas as the new attorney-general.

On the other hand, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also Anwar’s wife, has cautioned, “We need to be careful of what we say, watch our manners and respect the constitutional monarchy." This sounds like a call to self-censorship. This is abhorrent even under the rarest of circumstances.

Police are investigating Kadir after reports were lodged against him for his blog post, according to inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun. He said Kadir would be investigated under the Sedition Act, the Communications and Multimedia Act and Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation.

This smacks of selective prosecution under the Najib regime that the new attorney-general has promised to do away with.

I know Kadir well. He’s the Umno–type journo and not by any stretch of the imagination a republican. But he is a good scribe and can be a hard-hitting writer when the mood suits him. This has ruffled some feathers along the corridors of power from time to time.

In the current controversy, Kadir’s blog posting on June 4, 2018, titled the "Constitution: The King and the Pauper" has hit the target where it really stings.

I find nothing wrong in his post. The first obligation of journalism is to the truth and Kadir duly obliged.

However, he cannot claim to be blogging as a private citizen. Whether he likes it or not, Kadir is a Bersatu supreme council member and he is also the spokesperson for the Council of Eminent Persons formed by Mahathir to advise his administration.

By firing his shot across the bow, he knows full well it’s bound to ricochet by the main media to cause considerable collateral damage.

The situation has become so untenable that Kadir has to tender his resignation as head of communications of the Council of Eminent Persons formed by the new Harapan ruling coalition.

This seems the right thing for him to do. He is standing his ground and said he would continue to serve the country and the people through his writings. The controversial post remains on his blog.

So, does one need to fully understand the nuances of the Malay idiom, “lempar batusembunyi tangan”, before speculating that Kadir may, by the hand that threw the stone, have revealed who may be behind a hidden agenda? That’s fodder for another story.

What really riled Anwar?

What is in Kadir’s 1,200-word long blog that got Anwar and the monarchists into a fit? To begin with, Kadir is annoyed with the New Straits Times (NST).

He points out, “Since the annihilation of its master, the United Malay National Organisation (Umno), the NST has been diligently reporting government news albeit with its own sinister twist.”

It has reported that Anwar had wanted to assure the rulers that Harapan is not being controlled by the Chinese-majority DAP, as claimed by Umno and BN in the run-up to last month’s general election.

Kadir blogged, “I don’t give much credence to the freeing of its editorial stance because at the helm are the same editors who turned the paper into the Umno’s Völkischer Beobachter (the Nazi Party mouthpiece).”

What really riled Anwar may be this paragraph: “If the (NST) report is worth anything, my take on it is this: While Dr Mahathir runs the country as the Prime Minister, Anwar appears to be acting or behaving like a political commissar (as in a communist system).

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang seems to be muddling the water further. He was quoted as saying some Harapan leaders speak as though they are the prime minister. “There is a prime minister, let him make statements,” Hadi said.

Hadi also reportedly declined to comment when asked about allegations that PKR de facto leader Anwar was in a rush to replace Mahathir as prime minister.

Before Anwar can take Kadir to task, the context must be what Anwar actually thinks and says about press freedom. According to a report by Malaysiakini, Anwar wants the media to be the voice of the people, and be steadfast in its duties as the fourth estate to keep government leaders in check.

"Recently, the media supported Harapan due to the euphoria of the coalition having won the elections on May 9.

"But after everything settles down, the media has the right to speak up and criticise all state and federal governments," Anwar said during a grand ceramah in Permatang Pauh, his first since his release from prison on May 15.

What did Kadir say about the monarchy that worked up the royalists? As Kadir has said, read his blog. There is nothing much that Kadir blogged about the monarchy that is new as much of it has already been in the public domain.

Some may view his blog as sedition, yet others may view it as the freedom to form an opinion and the freedom to express that opinion. This is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

But Kadir did disclose something new. He said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and rulers need not feel insecure as they are well provided for. For 16 months to April this year, a total of RM256.9 million had been allocated to the Agong for purposes of accommodation, residence and palace, personal items, aircraft and transportation, training and escort equipment, clothing and ceremonial items, gifts and souvenirs, overseas visits and salaries of palace staff. This is several times over and above the official budget.

Kadir did not disclose his source, neither did anyone challenge the veracity of his assertion: not the palace, the Treasury nor the police. In this instance, Kadir is certainly controversial. But courting controversy itself is not a crime. Certainly not under the Sedition Act, the Communications and Multimedia Act and Section 500 of the Penal Code.

Let’s not try to be condescending in our attitude toward the monarchy, as if the constitution is inadequate to protect the institution or that it is incapable of defending itself. Water finds its own level always. So too must the monarchy find its role within the context of the constitution, especially after the unprecedented change of a six-decade-old regime.

It’s not easy but the people have spoken. Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! A monarchy like ours, established by the constitution, must be that very fountainhead of justice.

The role of the fourth estate is to be a watchdog for parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy without fear or favour.

If we free the press to play its role, then tomorrow may just be a better day for all.

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BOB TEOH is an author and media analyst and previously general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, while A Kadir Jasin was his editor at the Business Times in the 1980s. -Mkini