Perikatan Nasional MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan today blamed Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil for Malaysia dropping 34 spots to 107th place in the World Press Freedom Index.
The Bersatu supreme council member pointed out that Malaysia’s position is worse than Israel’s, which is in 101st place.
“For me, Fahmi has embarrassed the country because Malaysia’s position at 107 is only slightly better compared to Burundi (108), Mongolia (109), and Zimbabwe (116).
“In fact, Malaysia’s ranking this year is worse than Israel (101)!
“Fahmi should not be allowed to twist words to create excuses for why this situation happened.
“Fahmi must take responsibility and admit that he has undermined media freedom in Malaysia,” the Tasek Gelugor MP said in a statement on Facebook.
Wan Saiful (above, right) accused Fahmi of providing excuses for the government’s restriction of sites that criticised it such as MalaysiaNow, Malaysia Today, TV Pertiwi, and UtusanTV.
‘PN did better’
Yesterday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, with Malaysia falling off its top spot for Asean countries for the first time in three years and Thailand taking over at the 87th pace.
“The threat of defamation proceedings keeps journalists on a short leash in Mongolia (109th), while news sites critical of the government are often blocked in Malaysia (107th),” the report accompanying the index noted.
Malaysia was described in the report as “a culturally diverse constitutional monarchy. Although the federal government has a draconian legislative arsenal to restrict press freedom, these restrictions are resisted by a vibrant civil society”.
The country attained a score of 52.07 across five indicators: political (44.35), economic (45.63), legislative (34.04), social (52.62), and security (83.72).
Meanwhile, Wan Saiful said the Pakatan Harapan and BN government’s promises for press freedom have proven false.
The government had even revoked the press accreditation card for PAS mouthpiece Harakah, he added.
“In 2023, Malaysia leapt to 73rd place as a result of the PN government’s efforts the previous year.
“Whereas the 2024 report is an evaluation of a full year of the Harapan-BN government, especially on Fahmi’s performance as the minister responsible throughout the study period,” he said.
It is noted that on Aug 4, 2020, during the Muhyiddin Yassin administration, Bukit Aman conducted a joint raid with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on offices of Astro and UnifiTV, in addition to Al Jazeera.
Authorities conducted the raid after Al Jazeera highlighted the alleged mistreatment of undocumented migrants in Malaysia in one of its “101 East” episodes.
“The findings of the investigation will be submitted to the attorney-general in the near future.
“The police emphasise that this action is done in accordance with the law. No individual nor entity will escape action if it has clearly violated laws that are in force in Malaysia,” then-Bukit Aman CID director Huzir Mohamed was reported as saying.
On July 25, 2020, the authorities also arrested Bangladeshi Md Rayhan Kabir in connection to the same Al Jazeera documentary titled "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown".
They accused Rayhan of making false allegations about Malaysia’s treatment of undocumented migrants in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic when the news agency interviewed him.
In an interview with Malaysiakini on the same day, Al Jazeera English Channel's managing director Giles Trendle described the events as “an unprecedented level of attack”.
“Yes, we are concerned about media freedom in Malaysia. We are concerned with journalists being treated as criminals. One of our slogans is journalism is not a crime,” Trendle was reported as saying.
Blocked, redirected websites
Last year in August, attempts to access UtusanTV resulted in redirection to a generic government notice claiming a violation of law without specifying the nature of the violation.
Before that in June, MalaysiaNow was partially blocked as some Celcom and Maxis users reported that they were unable to access the website.
DNS tampering is a common method used in Malaysia to censor “undesirable” online content including pornography, online gambling, and violent extremist sites.
This has also been used to block legitimate news sites in the past, including Malaysiakini’s election results site during the 14th general election in 2018.
However, this redirected internet users to a government notice stating that the website had been blocked by law, rather than resulting in a “connection timed out” error.
In a separate statement, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the government’s alleged crackdown against the media is contrary to Harapan’s pledge when it was in the opposition.
“The fall in the media index is proof that the government is proactively blocking posts or sharings that are critical of the government.
“Pro-opposition leaders and influencers are pressured, have their social media accounts blocked, and their content taken down,” he said.
He further urged the government to give a chance for the rakyat to perform a checks-and-balances role to build a better Malaysia. - Mkini
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