Great overview on the state of media this year by CIJ:

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Freedom of Expression: 2007 a year of persecutions
By the Centre for Independent Journalism
16 December 2007

Overall, the state of freedom of expression in 2007 marks a further
deterioration compared to 2006. While 2006 was highlighted by the
suspension of newspapers due to the Muhammad caricature, the closure
of public discussion on race and religion initiated by the Article 11
coalition, and the censorship on books and film, 2007 was the year of
persecution and clampdown on people who use alternative platforms for
expression, such as bloggers and street assemblies, and increasing
media interference to tighten the flow of information.

These three trends are distinct in 2007. Editorial interference by the
government were prevalent throughout the year, while harassment of
bloggers increased both in frequency and severity during the second
half of the year. The last two months of 2007 witnessed a surge of
crackdown on public assemblies, culminating in the invocation of the
Internal Security Act (ISA) against five leaders of the Hindus Rights
Action Force (HINDRAF)

Interference in media reporting by official directives, warnings,
"advice" and harassment continued to be one the biggest trends in
Malaysia. The principal givers of directives were the Ministry of
Internal Security, headed by the Prime Minister himself and the
Ministry of Information, headed by Minister Zainuddin Maidin. However,
the year also saw a number of other state actors exerting control over
media content. They ranged from the police and the Law Minister, Nazri
Aziz who tried to bar media coverage on crime, to the Chairman of the
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Halim Shafie who
ordered broadcasters against giving airtime for speeches by the
opposition political parties. This was however reversed by the
Minister of Energy, Water and Communication, Lim Keng Yaik.

The "no coverage" orders by the Internal Security Ministry and
Information Ministry to the media were prompted by various issues of
the day, ranging from what was being discussed in the political blogs
to the assemblies by BERSIH (a coalition of political parties and
non-governmental groups on free and fair elections) and HINDRAF. The
bans were sometimes selective. For example, the media was barred from
reporting responses and outcry over the Deputy Prime Minister's
proclamation that Malaysia is an Islamic state despite its secular
constitution. In a letter, it was stated that only the views of the
Prime Minister and his deputy on this issue should prevail in the
print media. This was at the expense of other Barisan Nasional
component parties, which also felt strongly against the DPM's
statement. In the HINDRAF issue, statements by UMNO leaders continued
to receive coverage despite an order by the authorities to play the
issue down. This demonstrates that the level of dominance over the
media is certainly not uniform across the ruling parties. In the
meantime, the Information Ministry has been vocal in attacking bolder
or independent media, despite it having no power to censure the media.
The Minister has twice attacked theSun, an English daily known for
pushing the boundaries. It also attacked international new agency, Al
Jazeera for its live report on police violence during the BERSIH rally.

Editorial interference is also part of the underlying factor for the
general practices of self-censorship among editors. It should be noted
that the list of interference is not exhaustive as there could be many
unreported cases especially the more subtle ones. This could be the
reason for the termination of columnists Amir Muhammad and Zainah
Anwar in the pro-government New Straits Times. The former is an
independent filmmaker while the latter is a women rights activist.
Self-censorship also leads to unethical reporting when certain stories
were slanted heavily towards the government. One example of such bias
is the reporting of public rallies by BERSIH in Batu Burok, Terengganu
and Kuala Lumpur and the one organised by HINDRAF, also in the city.
HINDRAF and BERSIH were subject to severe criticism for using violent
ways, while the reports were silent on the violence by the police and
security forces. Casualties from the civilians' side were severely
underreported. In another case, the media remained silent on RSF Press
Freedom Index, which showed a huge drop in Malaysia's ranking. The
only reports were of the dismissal of the ranking, accusing it of
being a western agenda. Interestingly, state-run Radio 24 (a newly
launched 24-hours news stations) ran an interview with the Centre for
Independent Journalism Executive Director and National Union of
Journalists President, while all private-owned newspapers steered away
from the issue.

The second trend is the intimidation, which shifted from rhetoric in
2006 to actual persecution against bloggers who write about social and
political issues. Two such bloggers were slapped with defamation suits
(Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Atan, aka Rocky Bru) by New Straits Times and
its top officials; one (Nathaniel Tan) was detained for four days
because of a link posted by an anonymous commentator; another (Raja
Petra Kamarudin) and his wife, not a blogger, were grilled by the
police after UMNO, the largest ruling party lodged a report under the
Sedition Act; and another (Tian Chua) was questioned under the
Communications and Multimedia Act for posting a photo-montage. Two
other bloggers received threats, one a member of the government
backbenchers club, (Ruhanie Ahmad) and a California-based Malaysian
(M.Bakri Musa). These bloggers were targeted amidst developments that
were threatening the government. Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan were
sued amidst the feud between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and
former PM Mahathir Mohammad. Actions against Raja Petra and Nathaniel
came at the time of a rift between the Deputy Minister of Internal
Security and the police force, as allegation of serious corruption in
the police force was gaining momentum. Tian Chua was questioned during
the trial of the murder of Altantuya Sharibuu, a Mongolian. His
photo-montage suggested a link between the Deputy Prime Minister, his
aide Abdul Razak and Altantuya herself, who was purportedly murdered
by Abdul Razak. It is clear from the actions that they were intended
to silence the bloggers from discussing those issues.

Another related case is of a Malaysian student in Taiwan, Wee Meng
Chee, who was under fire for his music video on YouTube, of the
national anthem with rap lyrics, mainly about his feelings concerning
corruption, discrimination and race relations. The government
threatened action under the Sedition Act and the National Anthem Act.
The police however conceded that it was unable to charge Wee for
posting the video abroad. Wee was subsequently compelled to issue an
apology. This incident also brought the issue of ethical reporting to
attention as the story first appeared, in the language of
condemnation, in Harian Metro, a tabloid under the government-link
media conglomerate Media Prima.

The momentum of crackdown on public assemblies gathered since the
rally organized by BERSIH, the coalition for clean and fair election,
at Batu Burok. Live bullets were shot at the crowd resulting in the
injury of two. It is unprecedented in terms of police violence in
controlling the crowd. At the BERSIH and HINDARF rallies, police
instituted elaborate measures to break them by mounting roadblocks,
stopping buses, cars and arresting passengers, firing chemical laced
water and tear gas at the crowd, and arresting participants. In the
BERSIH-organised rally in Kuala Lumpur on 10 November, 34 people were
known to be arrested, while 136 people were arrested during the
HINDRAF rally on 25 November. HINDRAF leader P Uthayakumar, his
brother P. Waythamoorthy and V. Ganabatirau, were arrested under the
Sedition Act two days before the rally. Two more assemblies were held
after that - the lawyers' walk on Human Rights Day and a gathering of
people to support the submission of a memorandum to Members of
Parliament organised by BERSIH. In a new trend, police obtained
restraining orders against participants to the HINDRAF rally and the
Parliament group. These gatherings resulted in six lawyers arrested in
the Human Rights Day celebrations and 26 members of the BERSIH who
tried to go to Parliament to submit a memorandum to protest the
constitutional amendment on the tenure of the Chairman of Election
Commission. Police also started hunting down leaders and re-arresting
participants of the assemblies. Tian Chua from Parti Keadilan Rakyat
(PKR) and Mohamad Sabu from PAS, both part of BERSIH, were arrested on
9 December. Three days earlier, 31 people from the HINDRAF rally were
re-arrested and charged fro attempted murder and attending an illegal
assembly. Uthayakumar himself were arrested, released and re-arrested
on 11 December under the Sedition Act. He and four others were
eventually detained under the Internal Security Act on 13 December.

Another worrying trend that has surfaced is the attacks on journalists
and photographers by state actors or those with suspected links with
state actors. Four such cases were reported in the media. The more
serious is a journalist from the Malaysia Nanban, a Tamil language
daily, who was assaulted by unknown assailants. He has come out of a
coma and has vowed to continue his writings, some of which are
critical of the administration and the leading Indian political party,
the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). His colleague in the northern
territory has also lodged a police report after receiving a death
threat from an unknown person. He was warned to stop writing about the
problem of the Tamil schools or faced the same consequences as his
colleague in coma.

Underlying these problems are the growing concentration of media
ownership, where in this year alone, four Chinese-language dailies –
Sin Chew Daily, Guang Ming Daily, China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau –
were consolidated under one company owned by a timber tycoon, Tiong
Hiew King, known for his close relations with the ruling party.
Ownership of the private media by big corporate companies, and with
close ties to the government, have further impacted on the diversity
and plurality of information in an already controlled environment.

The real danger of little freedom of expression is the risk of
increasing polarization along ethnicities among Malaysians. The gap is
also poised to widen between those who subscribe mostly to the
mainstream media, which often misinform according to the interest of
the powers-that be, and those who access wider source of information
from the internet and foreign media. On the clampdown of assemblies,
those who read mainstream media are only presented with the picture of
harmony under siege and the provocation of one race against the
others. It seriously calls into question the government's wisdom that
freedom of expression must play second to racial harmony. The opposite
proves to be true. Any widening of misunderstanding among races is
traceable to the limitation on freedom of expression, which prevents
issues to be solved.

In this regard, the Centre for Independent Journalism continued to
call for the abolition of repressive laws, the setting up of a
Parliamentary Select Committee on Media Reforms, and for greater
public scrutiny of and engagement with the media.

Prepared by CIJ Advocacy Officer, Yip Wai Fong.

For more information, please call CIJ at 03-40230772 or email waifong
[at} cijmalaysia [dot] org.

some posts said to put the image instead of blogging. some posts said to make a post about burma. either way, there will be a splash of red across the blogosphere.

free burma - i guess arundhati roy might say: free for whom, against whom, by whom?  US' response is typically economic sanctions. if it doesn't work, maybe they'll find some weapons of mass justification.

malaysia? 


our ever updating and evolving formulas are of course much better: ISA since the emergency period in 1948 is still thriving gorgeously. the unchanging stance of treatment to refugee seekers in the country since the 1970s.

something in the world hurts.

what an email:

It grieves my entire being but does it bother Pak Lah and Cabinet?

i wonder how many others feel the same? have had some conversations with activists who basically commit their entire working lives to changing the way things are, to some notion of a fairer nation, society etc. and yet, the question of leaving is always hanging over our heads like a bit white question mark.

some are. and i know, others will take their place. bringing in new visions, energy, and whatever else it takes.

i've thought about leaving too. when i went to UK to study, all i ever wanted was to live in a place where being anything other than Malay doesn't mean differential treatment in legal standing or a tired and familiar form of identification and classification. i could think in poetry, create music, befriend all kinds of people regardless of nationality or even age.

but then again, which space is free from our incessant need to compartmentalise meaning? from skin, to language, to hair, to age, to sexual organs, to clothes, to consumption and everything else under the sky.

at least here, i have the most power (i fervently hope); as a citizen and as someone intimately invested in knowing the histories and stories to tremble them into something entirely hope-rending. if i can't do it here, what chance have i got anywhere else?

truth is, i love this idea of 'malaysia'. the idea of a warm piece of land where fruits and trees grow to gigantic proportions because of excessive sun and water. where violence is still something that is not easily identifiable as our own. with the constant negotiation of marked differences towards something that is more digestible as 'right'. and it's still possible to clearly see, without too much difficulty, the idiocy of the ruling strata. where everything is still a little raw, a little soft, and a little full of possible shapes in the future.

no longer a cotyledon. i think my true leaves are emerging, with a little more rootedness taking place.

i knew it was serious when i saw it scroll along my tv screen every 30 seconds
i knew it was serious when the american idol aspirers sent their thoughts before the votes
i knew it was serious when there were rumours about the 'asian' man
i knew it was serious when some friends put up a news link on their IM status bars
i knew it was serious when ad hoc poems were sent about the fragility of life
i knew it was serious when rough footage was looped over and over and over again over live witnesses interviews on CNN
i knew it was serious when AOL displayed his creative fantasies as proof of his monstrosity - post-mortem ingenuity
i knew it was serious when they told me it was so.

an "exact stereotype of what one would typically think of as a "school shooter" – a loner, obsessed with violence, and serious personal problems."

sometimes the push towards digital communications tech is a little annoying. sometimes the automatic counter against the ICT4D hype is radio. how it is more accessible. more user-friendly. and somehow, just a little more towards the 'authentic'.

it's true in many ways. i guess i embrace digital tech because it is increasingly assuming everyone as producers and users, whereas it's a little harder with radio, when users are an anonymous, disembodied mass (actually, maybe not that different from the internet, bar IPs & pseudonyms ;)), and producers are those with a working studio, mikes, recorders, editing software, transmitting devices etc. oh, and irritatingly, djs with american or australian accents.

i went to an art exhibition some years ago, and the featured artist did an installation on free-ing airways. being a radio pirate, and how simple it was. quite a literal take on art pushing boundaries of socially constructed realities. but still pretty cool.

not sure where i can locate myself in this whole thing, except as a supporter of all kinds of opening up of spaces for discussion to level of power relations. but this nalaka dude has good things to say.

received this in inbox today:

Protecting the spectrum for media freedom
By Nalaka Gunawardene

On May 3, the annual World Press Freedom Day will once again be observed worldwide, focusing public attention on a multitude of threats to freedom of expression through the mass media.

But amidst the extremely relevant and necessary slogans, we are unlikely to hear this slogan: Hands off our spectrum. Yet saving our spectrum is critical for ensuring media freedom.

The electro-magnetic spectrum has been called the ‘invisible wealth of nations’, and all broadcasting using the airwaves relies on the fair, equitable and sound management of this common property resource.

( more - protecting the spectrum for media freedom )

Alert

There are some poets who can capture
the impossible distance of
carelessness
in a carefully weighed sentence;
But I find myself lacking
in necessary silence or
language
to describe the restlessness I feel
receiving your
broken ribs and
fractured knees
through the stoic glance
of an email.

I try to patch strings of flesh upon the naked letters
that have swum across cables to reach me;
Engorge my ears so they can hear
the texture of your scathing mutiny;
I wet my lips to better taste
the iron, salty grime of time
passed between the crack of skull from metal
and hasty punctuations.
But I can't.

My fingers tap impatiently on plastic buttons
willing change through a few clicks and
searing hope
so my heart could travel
and intensify
by electrical currents to somehow
graze against you.

But I can't.
The pallor of my skin is cast
from a failure of my machine.

--

Crisis in Zimbabwe - state abuse worsens
Zimbabweans fight while SADC Watches in Silence: A Call to Action
Zimbabwean women demand real rights for international women's day

just had to republish this interview between creative commons and lawrence liang. i'm glad he ended up by taking CC up to the challenge of its perpetuation of IP discourses that reifies exclusive ownership principles. how can alternative copyright licences assert itself as transforming ideas of ownership around ideas (this poem is mine, i share it with you because i own this poem, but at the end of the day, i can only share it with you because i think that it is mine to own in the first place), when it relies on the very same principles of intellectual property (IP) to make sense?

doop dee doop.

lawrence is more articulate than i am. so i'll just leave it to his words

( A DMC with Lawrence Liang )

malaysia boleh!

in the spirit of "visit malaysia 2007", here's a taste of the culture that we are selling. books are an important space to document and articulate shifting things in society, like ideas, identity, thoughts, questions, beauty, spirit, history and so on. what more in mult-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-god, multi-media malaysia, where our multitude is paraded like tasty and colourful sweets for consumption. what delicious morsel is too spicy even for locals?

( here's a list compiled by silverfish books: )

the saga around this is kinda old, with questions about the consistency of this list being raised. some of the books doesn't seem to match the official government's list. the verdict is clear though: the internal security ministry is the unequivocal moral guardian of malaysian society. especially when it comes to kids. spongbob and patrick are just too gay for words.

even when lives are at stake, and interrogation into our most recent bump into ethnic-based violence at kampung medan in 2001 is similarly brushed aside. K Arumugam's efforts at interviewing those affected, questioning the mysterious acquittal of all 83 people charged despite 6 people being killed and the efficacy of State response are shunted into the same category as "Kamasutra: Apakah Kebaikannya" by Drs Munir Rahmat and other publications tagged as penerbitan haram.

and then we have beauties such as "Useful Tips for the Diplomat's Wife", with tips from make sure you have a clean toilet, to shove your career aside, to grin and don't complaint.

sheesh. kebab.

in other words, we will ban all things around sex, but we will spread our legs like peanut butter jelly for your foreign currency. our shitrooms are cleaned up just for you. nothing bad ever happens here. and if you don't agree with our multi-multi-lala-story, we'll simply make you haram. in case you think that multi-multi-lala-lili also applies to the doors of ijtihad, think again. there's only one carrier of the haram stamp here. and it isn't in the hands of any multitude.

sheesh. kebab.

p/s: the sudden impulse to provide links is in tribute to pak lah's twisted knickers over "responsible blogging". nyeah...

( Men 'buy' Viet wives off bridal parades in small-town coffeeshops )

i watched 'ali g' posing as a dude from kazakhstan a couple of weeks ago. he went to a dating agency, and started spewing his usual inappropriate dialogue, poking fun at all kinds of sterotypes through his embodied exchange.

how would one be able to poke fun and render ridiculous bridal shows like this? it already seems a little sci-fi. maybe i should write an email to ali g and ask him to pose as a vietnamese bride.

platypus save us all when ali g starts to be quoted as a potential subversive actor.