PENANG
- The recent reaction by authorities to disparaging
comments posted on a popular weblog here reflect
contradictory attitudes toward the creation of a more
liberal society and appear to have dented Prime Minister
Abdullah Badawi's reformist credentials in the eyes of
some Malaysians.
The abusive comments, made by a
visitor to the popular Screenshots blog managed by Jeff
Ooi, an e-business consultant and columnist for a
business journal, drew flak from government officials
for insulting Islam Hadhari, which the government
is trying to promote as a progressive understanding of
Islam, in light of money politics within the ruling
party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
The allegations of money politics and vote-buying claim
that candidates at the party's Supreme Council election
had given huge sums of money to delegates in order to
secure support.
Deputy Internal Security
Minister Noh Omar has warned that authorities could take
action against Ooi under the feared Internal Security
Act (ISA), which provides for indefinite detention
without trial.
Media activists were quick to
spring to Ooi's defence, arguing that he should not be
held responsible for comments made by visitors to his
website. A blog is essentially a web-based journal where
people can post comments for other Internet users to
read. Ooi's defenders point out that in the case of a
popular blog like his, dozens of comments can be posted
on any single day and it becomes very difficult for the
blogger to keep tabs on all entries and sieve out the
abusive, derogatory ones. They have likened such
comments to crude graffiti in a public restroom for
which the restroom's operator cannot be held
responsible. They point out that most Malaysians would
have missed the comments if not for the official
reaction and media publicity that followed.
The
right to free expression on the Internet is problematic
for some, as talk of ethnicity, language and religion
inevitably dominates many discussions. This is
unsurprising given Malaysia's affirmative action
policies in favor of Malays and other indigenous groups
and the inroads made by political Islam in recent years.
The government often regards such issues as "sensitive",
fearing that they could spark racial or communal unrest,
while the country's anti-sedition act prohibits any
questioning of the "special position" of the Malays as
spelled out in the constitution.
The deputy
minister's threat to use the Internal Security Act shows
there are limits to the government's pledge not to
censor the Internet, a guarantee given partly to attract
foreign information-technology investors to the
country's Multimedia Super Corridor near Kuala Lumpur.
Media freedom activists, on the other hand, believe that
debate and discussion among Malaysians is healthy and
say most Malaysians are mature enough to handle
inflammatory remarks tossed onto Internet forums and
message boards, and to discount them.
On July
27, in what was later called a "display of maturity",
parliament held the so-called "Great Malaysian Debate",
a public debate over the ISA, noteworthy largely because
the ISA had never before been publicly debated by a
government and opposition leader - let alone in
parliament. But while the debate seemed to prove that
Malaysians are indeed mature enough to disagree in open
discussion, the government has taken another line in
regard to its citizens and their participation in
Internet forums.
Thus, the Ooi affair may also
be seen as a prelude to a larger dilemma the government
faces as the Internet penetration in Malaysia rises.
There are more than 3 million dial-up subscribers and a
further 175,000 broadband subscribers in a population of
25 million, according to the latest statistics compiled
by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC). The household personal computer (PC)
penetration rate stands at 26% of the 5 million
households in the country.
Meanwhile, the
Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia (MECM)
has embarked on a "One Home One PC" project, in
collaboration with Association of the Computer and
Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM). It seeks to
increase the PC penetration rate in Malaysia from 15% in
2002 to 35% in 2006. It also aims to double Internet
users from 30% in 2002 to 60% in 2006.
Assuming
the project is successful, the significant increase in
penetration will no doubt jeopardize the government's
current monopoly on mainstream media coverage.
Though the majority of Malaysians use the
Internet for e-mail and other communication, a small but
increasing number of Malaysians have turned to the web
for alternative views, given the lack of dissenting
views in the mainstream media.
Apart from
Screenshots, other alternative English-language news and
commentary websites include the popular independent news
portal, Malaysiakini.com, and sites such as Malaysia
Today, Aliran Online and one run by independent
commentator MGG Pillai.
The official outburst
over the comments on Ooi's blog has heightened the sense
of fear among legitimate Internet users that Big Brother
is watching. Many are already worried about expressing
their views on the Internet.
In these
circumstances, the promise of no-censorship of the
Internet is meaningless when the authorities use other
draconian laws to frighten Malaysian web surfers. Some
wonder whether the government's strong reaction
indicates that it is worried about the expanding use of
the Internet for alternative news, which threatens to
undermine the government's monopoly over the major news
media in the country.
Others claim that the
furor over the blog comments is an attempt to divert
attention away from charges of money politics and
vote-buying that surfaced during the general assembly
and party elections of the dominant UMNO party. The blog
affair has also diverted attention away from claims that
factionalism has gripped UMNO again.
UMNO
leaders may also be feeling a little uneasy given that
ousted former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim is reportedly
due to return to Malaysia by the end of October, after
recuperating from spinal surgery in Munich and going for
a pilgrimage to Mecca.
But they have to wrestle
with the larger question of whether Malaysians,
especially the Malays, are ready to face up to the
challenges of globalization. There is some concern over
unemployment levels among Malay graduates, who are
perceived to be lacking in technical skills required by
industry and are deficient in their command of English.
The economy too is facing fresh challenges as regional
competitors like China and Indochina draw off the
foreign direct investment that once flowed to Malaysia.
Against this backdrop the Ooi episode looks like
a side-show. Nonetheless it reflects official concern
over the changing dynamics of media control in Malaysia
and the role of the Internet in undermining the
dominance of the mainstream media.
Anil
Netto is a freelance journalist based in Malaysia,
covering political and social issues. A former
accountant, he is currently joint coordinator of Charter
2000-Aliran, a network promoting press freedom in
Malaysia.
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