Attempts to censor the media will fail, veteran editor tells Umno

Any attempts by Umno or the government to crack down on the media would eventually fail, an Indonesian veteran editor cautioned today.

Goenawan Mohamad, one of the founding editor of Indonesia's Tempo magazine, noted that it would be impossible to sustain such attempts and as such, it would be a waste of time to even try to do so. 

"Experiences from everywhere have shown that a censorship (crackdown) will not be sustainable, it would eventually fail.

"So it would be futile for parliament (government) or Umno to have such plans (to crackdown on the media)," said Goenawan when met after his lecture delivered in conjunction with a three-day literature festival organised by the Selangor government.

He said this when asked for comments on calls by an Umno delegate at the party's Annual General Assembly for authorities to investigate the owner of news portal The Malaysian Insight (TMI) over alleged insults against the Umno leadership and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"Before they regret (the wasted effort), don't even do it," stressed Goenawan who remains most known for his "Catatan Pinggir" column in the weekly news magazine.

Now in his 70s, Goenawan himself is no stranger to the struggle for press freedom in Indonesia as he had helmed Tempo through two episodes of suspension over the period of 12 years between 1982 and 1994 under former president Soeharto's New Order regime. 

Journalists who supported calls to free the press eventually banded to form Indonesia's Independent Journalists Alliance as a force against government control over the media.

Tempo had taken a four-year hiatus after its second suspension was lifted and only resumed operations in 1998 following Soeharto's downfall, which marked a major reform of Indonesia's press laws.

Citing documents from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), Penang delegate Mohd Nashrol Hisham Abdullah yesterday claimed that TMI was owned by one Faridah Begum and urged authorities to investigate her.

Faridah is the sister of TMI editor-in-chief Jahabar Saddiq and wife of attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Yesterday, Johor delegate Haliza Abdullah (photo) had related how TMI's predecessor, The Malaysian Insider, had been shut down by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), while speaking about news portals, including Malaysiakini. 

However, she did not make clear if she was suggesting that the MCMC take similar action against the portals. -Mkini