Top journalists say CMA amendments height of Anwar government's free speech crackdown

Former top editors of two of the country's major newspapers have denounced Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government for its record on press freedom despite being in power for only two years, as criticism mounts on what is seen as efforts to further strengthen the authorities' power to suppress dissent through amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act.

A Kadir Jasin and Zaini Hassan described the amendments as the culmination of the current government's suppression of dissent, following a series of actions against social media users and a drop in Malaysia's international press freedom rating.

"This is what they call 'the ultimate' they can do when they are in power," Zaini, who was the senior editor of Utusan Malaysia during the heyday of the Malay daily, told MalaysiaNow.

This week, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil tabled a series of amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act, sparking a wave of criticism from journalists and rights groups.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) zeroed in on the fact that the government still refuses to repeal a section of the Actthat is often used against opposition leaders and online critics.

The group, which has repeatedly condemned Pakatan Harapan (PH) for its many U-turns on reforms promised over the past two decades, warned that the amendments would resurrect the controversial Anti-Fake News Act, which the coalition abolished in 2018 shortly after coming to power under the leadership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

LFL pointed to the insertion of terms such as “confusing” or “incomplete” in the definition of misuse of network facilities under Section 233 of the Act, stating that this would massively expand the scope of the offence as henceforth anyone could be charged with "misuse of "network facilities" for general criticism of the government without furnishing the full facts and details of the issue.

"It will put fear upon the public and prevent them from participating discussions regarding matters of public interest. It would have chilling effect on freedom of speech," said LFL spokesman Zaid Malek, who said the amendments to Section 233 fulfilled the objective of the Anti-Fake News Act.

Zaini does not seem surprised by the move.

"When they were in opposition, they were screaming injustice," he said, adding that PH politicians were now doing the exact opposite.

"Everything has been turned upside down."

'Chief censor'

Other changes proposed by the government include giving more powers to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the agency under the communications ministry that is behind a number of blockages of news sites critical of the government.

The amendments would also grant MCMC and its officials immunity from prosecution or other proceedings.

Meanwhile, Kadir warned that the changes would effectively make MCMC the "chief censor" to block views and content that are not complimentary to the government.

"Already, we have seen how MCMC acting like a censor for the government," said Kadir, who once headed the New Straits Times Press group.

"If the Madani government is not bothered by international opinion and ratings, it is certainly aware that media freedom in our country is increasingly being challenged," Kadir wrote recently.

This year's World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ranks Malaysia 107th, down 34 places from 73rd last year.

The index, which assesses media and journalism freedom in 180 countries based on events in 2023, is the first assessment of press freedom under Anwar's coalition government.

The government has often invoked the 3Rs - race, religion and royalty - to crack down on its critics, many of whom have been charged with sedition.

Anwar had said he was not bothered by Malaysia's downgrading in the press freedom index as it was due to the government's crackdown on "racists and religious fanatics".

"I don't mind, it does not matter, if we are downgraded because we are tough against the racists and the religious bigots," he said in May.

Anwar's government began restricting free speech shortly after coming to power in November 2022 on the back of Malay voters' rejection of PH in the general election.

Since then, the government through MCMC has frequently threatened platforms such as TikTok to take down contents critical of Putrajaya's policies.

In June last year, MalaysiaNow was blocked for 48 hours without any notice.

 TV Pertiwi and Utusan TV had their websites blocked as well, in addition to a blog run by former MP Wee Choo Keong.