You can punch a journalist, but not journalism

 

Haresh Deol’s assault in Bangsar a few days ago shocked me.

A veteran sports journalist, deputy president of the National Press Club, and co-founder of the news site TwentyTwo13, Haresh was also once a colleague of mine when we were both news editors at Astro Awani.

Apparently, two men went at him while another filmed the whole thing. I guess it’s because, in 2025, even crime can become content. If you’re going to commit a crime these days, you need to make sure it’s ready for the Gram!

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), the Sportswriters’ Association of Malaysia (SAM), and Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) all condemned the attack, calling it an insult to professionalism and media freedom, which is true.

Haresh wasn’t just writing about football scores. He was digging into the scandal that saw the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) fine FAM for fielding “heritage players” with dodgy documents.

Haresh Deol

That’s not fluff reporting; it’s accountability journalism.

Was it a warning shot?

Now, to be clear, we don’t know what the real intention of the attack is, but it is eerily coincidental. Even most of the news stories that are reporting on the incident are giving this as the context, although not directly stating that this is the real reason.

Police have apprehended one suspect, and he has been charged. One of the possibilities, according to the police, is that it could have been a case of mistaken identity and that Haresh was not the intended victim.

But whatever it is, Haresh is a journalist, and he was assaulted while doing his job, and that makes this assault more than just a random act of violence. Whether it is related or not, the optics are out there.

A journalist who dared to shine a light on a scandal involving Malaysia’s beloved football was beaten up, and the act was apparently recorded. Was it supposed to be a show to other journalists and the press?

Malaysia’s media has always had to perform a balancing act. On one side, reform and progress. On the other hand, censorship and lawsuits. Journalists already self-censor, and now, we need to add the risk of being physically attacked.

What is funny is that Haresh covers sports, which is supposedly the “safe” beat. Football scores, badminton heroes, SEA Games drama, and the like.

But Haresh went further by poking at the system, highlighting Fifa’s fine and showing how FAM’s credibility was on the line.

We Malaysians love our football and our drama, but do we love our journalists?

Journalists are the ones who dig up the stories we so want to read about, even when these stories make us uncomfortable. Without them, we’re left with silence. And silence is dangerous.

Chilling effect

Haresh’s assault is more than just a crime. It’s a slap in the face of every Malaysian who believes in the right to information and free speech. It’s a reminder that media freedom here is fragile, and that it is seriously being tested in ways we cannot ignore.

When something like this happens, public trust in the media will suffer. People start doubting whether the information they get is honest and free from intimidation. Reporters might avoid sensitive topics, fearing retaliation and attack.

Democracy in the country will weaken because free speech is an important element for a good democracy to operate. Violence against journalists takes that away, and Malaysia cannot claim to be a mature democracy if journalists are unsafe.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has also condemned the attack and said that incidents like this should never happen to journalists, especially while doing their job. This was conveyed by government spokesperson and Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

From what I know of Haresh, he is one good journalist, and journalists are stubborn. He lodged a police report, spoke out publicly, and refused to be silenced.

That resilience is what keeps the spirit of free speech alive. It’s what makes journalists so important.

Violence against media cannot be normalised

So Malaysians have a choice. We can just say, “Biasa lah tu” and just let intimidation determine the stories we hear. Or we can stand with Haresh and other journalists and demand that the situation improve.

If we allow violence to silence the press, we’re failing ourselves. And honestly, if we can’t even protect the guy who writes about football, then maybe our Harimau Malaya team deserve to lose to Indonesia, Vietnam, and the rest.

Just think about it. Malaysian football has been made fun of for decades for underperforming. But at least when they lose, we get to read about it, laugh about it, and complain about it over teh tarik because it is our football to do so.

But if journalists are silenced, we won’t even be able to do that. Imagine a Malaysia where you can’t even make fun of the national team’s latest defeat because no one dares to write about it. That’s not just sad, but it’s un-Malaysian.

Haresh’s assault is a wake-up call. It tells us that media freedom in Malaysia is not guaranteed. It is fragile, vulnerable, and constantly under threat. But it also tells us that journalists are resilient.

They will keep writing, keep investigating and keep annoying us, because that’s their job. And that’s the punchline. You can punch a journalist, but you can’t punch journalism (Oh my god! So witty of me, right?).

As for FAM, I’m sure if they can survive Fifa’s fines and the dodgy paperwork scandal, they can surely survive a little scrutiny from journalists too. After all, handling criticism gracefully is part of the game, and they did indeed condemn the assault on Haresh.

We will now observe and wait for the police investigation to happen transparently and carefully, so we can know the real motives for the attack. Hopefully, it will all turn out as positively as we can hope for.

As for Haresh, thank you for doing your job and staying strong because we are behind you. Look at it this way, journalism is really that one tough referee that the sport needs to keep everything in check.

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT