Freedom of

Expression
in
Malaysia
2009
An Annual Review by
contents
4 Foreword

5 Malaysia’s Media Landscape

6 The Crisis in Perak

8 Police partiality and freedom of assembly

10 Racialisation of issues vs ethical reporting

12 Threats against online media and bloggers

14 Intolerance of diversity

16 Conclusion

18 Timeline of Events
• The Perak Crisis
• Right to Assembly
• ISA and the release of Hindraf leaders
• The “Allah” issue
• Restrictions against discourse of Islam
• Online censorship
• Raja Petra Kamarudin
• Restriction of campaigning at by-elections
• Others
 F
FOREWORD
ourteen dasy after the fireworks ushering 2010, a number of
places of worship were attacked, one with paints, most others with
firebombs. No one was injured, but this came after days of protest
by Muslim-Malay oressure groups against the court ruling allowing the
Catholics to use the word “Allah” in their publication.

Sectarian violence is rare in multi-ethnic Malaysia, but when the State

and non-State actors champion the cause of narrowly-defined rights and
privileges for a specific group over the rights of all citizens, this foments
fear and ignorance, and encourages intolerance in interactions between
and within ethnic communities.

To stoke the fire, there is also unprecendented partisanship on the issue

in a certain media- a worrying subversion of the media’s potential in
promoting peace and understanding in our multi-ethnic setting.

That is the message that Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is

conveying in our freedom of Expression in Malaysia 2009 Annual Review.
The Review presented a trajectory of how events were re-interpreted to
tension level, with challengers being removed or marginalized, once again,
through legal but unlawful means.

As we critically revisit the events documented in the Review, CIJ is

compelled to sound a warning bell on the danger of messages of
partisanship based on ethnicity and religion. The current climate makes
itall the more urgent for Malaysians to reclaim their right to freedom of
expression, and to demand their media to provide sufficient and equal
spaces for meaningful discussion, not foment cleavages and siege
mentality.

As we commemorate the World Press Freedom Day in 2010, let us be clear

that the freedom to express is synonymous with the desire for peace and
democracy.

Masjaliza Hamzah
on behalf of the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)

4
Malaysia’s Media Landscape:
Race, religion stoking policy
I
n 2009, perceived political crisis and increasing strain between various religious
and ethnic groups, were used as excuses for political leaders to leave demands for
political and democratic reform in abeyance.

Following the 2008 general election, the winning but badly shaken party as well as
other ethno-religious groups have used for political mileage the perception that the
special position of the ‘natives’ enshrined in the Constitution has been undermined.
An authoritarian brand of Islam has also been propagated by the state and individuals
more vocally since 2008. In 2009, these groups have increased their visibility by actively
censuring and invoking the threat of violence against remarks discussing affirmative
action, the monarchy and Islam. Their cause was aided by the Malay media owned by
the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) taking up their battle-cry, fuelled by
routine depictions of the opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan) as a threat to the
‘Malay race’.

Thus 2009 saw aggressive ethno-religious expression becoming the dominant theme in
the media, with intolerance and contempt colouring discourse. This contradicts the new
Prime Minister Najib Razak’s vision of “1Malaysia”, which includes as its aims a freer
media. Speaking to journalists and editors three days after becoming Prime Minister in
April 2008, Najib said he wanted the media to “hold the government and public officials
accountable” and to “report without fear and favour”, but the tough laws governing the
media have remained unchanged. Further, editors have spoken about the government’s
plan to revive Media Council legislation on top of the existing laws, and at the end of
last year, they were being told to implement additional and stricter publishing guidelines.  



There have been a few welcome gestures for democratic rights. Some detainees being
held under the dreaded Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) were freed and the 2008
amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, were gazetted in
early 2009 to reverse a ban on students’ freedom of association and expression. But
these pale in comparison to the ongoing punitive actions against government opponents
and critics, and fall far short of acceptable standards.

The continual dwelling on and inciting of issues of ethnicity and religion directly affects
the prospect of freedom of expression. Ethnic and religious tensions are being used by
the state to rationalise the maintenance of the restrictive laws. More positively, these
laws are also being seen by some as the tools that facilitate tension, due to restricting
discourse and debate, and privileging voices that are incendiary.

While the prospect of meaningful reform for democratic spaces looks dismal, this comes
with a political cost to the government – of alienating progressive voices within Malaysia
and jeopardising the country’s image abroad. The Najib administration will have to
evaluate these risks, for both the short and the long terms, in at worst using, and at
least tolerating, this move towards greater authoritarianism in the name of religious
intolerance and racial ‘unity’.

5
A protest by Pakatan supporters in February to demand for the dissolution of the Perak state
assembly to pave way for fresh elections, after three lawmakers left the Pakatan government.
Crisis in Perak
T
he country was rocked at the beginning of
the year with a crisis in the state of Perak.
The crisis revealed that the government
is bent on securing political interests and getting
ahead of its political rival, the Pakatan opposition
alliance, regardless of the cost to good
governance and democracy.
Perak was won by PR in the 2008 elections.
However, in February 2009, elected members of
Pakatan defected to become ‘Barisan Nasional
(BN)-friendly independents’. In the resulting
political vacuum, the Sultan of Perak Azlan Shah
acted by appointing lawmakers from the BN and
sacking the existing state government before
a vote of no-confidence could be held in the
legislature. This was both unpopular and legally
controversial.
At the swearing-in of Perak’s new Menteri Besar
in February, police fired tear gas on an estimated
3,000 to 5,000 protesters, arresting nine. Days
6
later, authorities, invoking the Printing Presses
and Publications Act 1984, confiscated thousands
of copies of two opposition newspapers – Suara
Keadilan, by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR, or the
People’s Justice Party), and Harakah, published
by the Islamic party PAS. We believe this is
because of their coverage of the Perak crisis.
The following month, the two newspapers were
ordered to shut down for three months by the
government. This was not only shortly after this
crisis, but immediately prior to the new Prime
Minister being sworn in and the three crucial by-
elections in Kedah, Perak and Sarawak. The ban
was lifted on 3 April, on Najib’s first day in office.
However, the chairperson of the Democratic
Action Party (DAP) and MP for Bukit Gelugor
Karpal Singh, was charged under the Sedition
Act 1948 for questioning the legality of the
Sultan’s actions. If found guilty, Karpal faces
up to three years in prison or a fine of up to
RM5,000 (US$1,400) or both.
Then PKR information chief Tian Chua (right)
and Suara Keadilan editor, Zunar (left) reveal that
the party organ was confiscated by the authority.
Pic courtesy of Malaysiakini
Actions were also taken against members of
the public in Perak who voiced dismay over the
crisis. Police arrested six online commentators
for criticising the Sultan of Perak’s role in the
power struggle. They were charged under
Section 233(1) of the Communications and
Multimedia Act 1998, and Section 34 of the
Penal Code for “insulting” the Perak royalty
in various blogs. The broadly worded Section
233(1) penalises the “improper use of facilities
or network service, etc.” and provides for a jail
term of one year and a fine of up to RM50,000
(approximately US$13,500). Two bloggers,
Jed Yoong and Ahiruddin Attan, are also being
investigated by the police for content and
comments on their blogs about the crisis.
In May, when the assembly in Perak resumed,
police again implemented a crackdown. In the
span of three weeks, police arrested a total of
146 people, including opposition lawmakers,
writers, activists and lawyers, stirring public
concern that this would be a reenactment of the
1987 Operasi Lallang crackdown. However, most
of those arrested were either released the same
day or remanded for up to four days.
Writer, academic and chairperson of the Writers’
Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) Wong
Chin Huat was remanded for four days simply
because he tried to rally people to wear black
on the assembly day, to mourn the death of
democracy in Perak. Political columnist for
leading online news service Malaysiakini Josh
Hong and the editor of Suara Keadilan Law Teck
Hao were among those arrested while attending
Attempt by activists lead by PKR Supreme
Council member, Badrul Hisham Shaharin
(left) to deliver a cake to the PM on the late
Altantuya’s birthday, is met with police arrest,
on the same day as the arrest of PAS vice
president, Mat Sabu. Pic courtesy of Amin
Iskandar.
a candlelight vigil for Wong in front of a police
station in Kuala Lumpur. PAS vice president
Mat Sabu was arrested because he called for
a gathering at a mosque in Perak on the first
day that the assembly was to meet following the
crisis. Police also raided the DAP office on two
separate occasions, seizing electronic equipment,
publications and DVDs about the crisis.
Nationally, the Perak crisis was framed by some
of the mainstream media as a matter of treason
against the monarchy and – stretching the limits
of credulity – as being ethnically motivated,
with the possibility of leading to inter-ethnic
clashes. Though the former Menteri Besar Nizar
Jamaluddin is a Malay Muslim, he was accused
of running a puppet government for the Chinese-
majority DAP and of committing treason against
the Sultan by refusing to resign or to accept the
legality of the Sultan’s actions. Some of those
who were charged for criticising the Sultan
online were, following their arrests, depicted
as remorseful, implying that the monarchy is
sacrosanct. Karpal, as well as being investigated,
was also targeted at public rallies staged by
UMNO, and accused of being sacrilegious.
The mainstream media also spun the legally
dubious take-over as being “tit-for-tat” against
Pakatan for its failed attempt to take over the
Federal government through the defection of
BN parliamentarians in 2008. In such spins,
the public has been told by the controlled press
that the Perak crisis is a party-political one, not
a crisis of democracy in which they are the true
stakeholders.
7
Police partiality and freedom of assembly
T
he Perak crisis is just one of several
issues that drove Malaysians to the
streets. Some of the others were
ethnocentric in their cause, for which the police
took delayed (if any) action against organisers
and participants, while for assemblies that were
more ethnically diverse but anti-BN in tone,
protesters were met with immediate repression.
As mentioned in the previous section, the
statement by Karpal prompted UMNO to
organise a public rally against him. Not only
were there no arrests among the 200-strong
crowd, police also belatedly declared that it had
no permit. While applauding the lack of police
action in this instance, CIJ calls for the need to
ensure that similar freedoms are enjoyed by all,
not just by those connected to the government,
or those opposing Pakatan.
In contrast, during the anti-ISA rally in early
August 2009 attended by 5,000 or 15,000
(depending on which source), police used
tear gas, water cannons and roadblocks, and
arrested close to 600 people. The anti-ISA rally
almost had to face a pro-ISA rally organised
on the same day by various NGOs under the
umbrella group Pewaris. At the eleventh hour
– apparently after realising there would be a
meagre turnout – Pewaris cancelled the rally
and decided instead to have a representative
submit a memorandum to the palace. While
the slew of arrests and clampdown operations
against the anti-ISA protesters were happening,
the Pewaris representative was allowed by
police to submit his memorandum.
One of the year’s most notorious incidents, the
‘cow-head protest’ exposes even more glaringly
police inconsistency in controlling the right to
assembly. The protest was sparked when a
Hindu temple was to be relocated to a Muslim
populated area in Shah Alam, Selangor, a move
linked to the Pakatan state government. On 28
August, some Muslim residents held a protest
8
rally, the highlight of which was the display of
a recently-decapitated cow’s head, which was
later kicked by some protesters. There were no
arrests at the time, and the Home Minister later
came out with a statement supporting the rally,
causing public outcry. On 9 September, the
government charged six of the protesters under
the Sedition Act 1948.
There was also public outcry as a result of
the government’s harassment of news site
Malaysiakini, when videos of the ‘cow-head’
protest and the Minister’s press conference,
including his defense of that protest, were posted
online. The Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC) deemed these
videos offensive and asked Malaysiakini to take
them down, invoking the Communications and
Multimedia Act 1998. Malaysiakini refused, and
the MCMC sent officers to question its Editor-in-
Chief Steven Gan and CEO Premesh Chandran.
Police also arrested 14 Burmese nationals for
taking part in a gathering organised by the Selangor
state government to celebrate the 64th birthday of
Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi in June.
On the anniversary day of the formation of
Malaysia, 15 indigenous people from tribes of
Penan, Kayan, Kenyah and Iban were arrrested
in Kuching for submitting a memorandum of
protest against the construction of two dams
that will be affecting the people in the area of
Baram and Murum.
The inconsistency of enforcement shows that
freedom of assembly remains a barely tolerated
right. As the police force is not obliged to be
accountable to the public and is answerable only
to the Home Ministry, the public have not been
given any explanation for the inconsistency.
As a constitutionally enshrined right, freedom
of assembly should never be subject to the
interests of the government or other groups, but
upheld for all equally and impartially.
The act of stamping on a cowhead by
protesters who are against the relocation
of a Hindu temple to a mostly Malay
populated area, ignites public outcry and
give the protest the name “cowhead”.
Picture courtesy of The Malaysian Insider.

Police cracks down on the

anti-ISA mass rally using water
cannon (left) and tear gas
(below). Picture courtesy of
Merdeka Review.

9
Racialisation of issues vs
ethical reporting
T
he role of the media in these events was,
sadly, not that of a neutral bystander.
Some issues were deliberately given
an ethnic spin by some media. Since 2008,
UMNO-owned daily Utusan Malaysia has been
championing “Malay unity”, a thinly disguised
call for ‘Malays’ to be politically united under
UMNO. A political unity among Malays is
argued to be fundamental to the ethnic group’s
collective survival vis-a-vis other communities,
as well as to the country’s security. The idea
follows from the concept of “Ketuanan Melayu”
commonly interpreted as perpetual privileges
for the ‘native’ majority ethnic group. With
UMNO’s electoral setback and Pakatan’s gain,
Pakatan partners PKR and PAS have been
often portrayed – through statements from
UMNO officials as well as the Malay-based
groups mentioned earlier – as a threat to that
unity, while DAP was represented as a threat
from the supposedly economically powerful
‘ethnic Chinese’. 

 “expose” the alleged conversion of Muslims.
The anti-ISA mass rally in August, for example,
was painted by Utusan as a betrayal by
those Malays who were organising the rally
(alongside others), as well as the minority’s
threat to the dominant race.  by Catholics, on the reporter’ lack of religious
Earlier in July, calls to investigate the
suspicious death of opposition political aide
Teoh Beng Hock while being held overnight for
questioning at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission’s (MACC) offices were given an
ethnic twist – about the ‘Chinese’ attempting
to undermine the ‘Malay’ staff at the MACC.
It was, apparently, irrelevant that calls for an
impartial investigation were being made from a
broad cross-section of Malaysian society.
The response of Pakatan, however, was also
10
wanting. The coalition banned Utusan Malaysia
and the BN-owned New Straits Times from
their events. Their reaction raised the question
of how press freedom can be practised when
ethical standards are not being upheld. Pakatan
state governments in Selangor and Penang
have set up their online and print organs, but
maintained a ban on these two dailies and their
reporters.
The racialisation of reporting is not limited
to demonising the Federal-level opposition.
The underlying concept of “Ketuanan Melayu”
entails the viewing of the ‘non-native’ with
suspicion, thus the newspapers dwell on the
immigrant origin of the Other. This suspicion
of other ethnic groups was also the underlying
issue inadvertently highlighted by the magazine
Al-Islam, which is published by the Utusan
group. The magazine sent a reporter to go
undercover at a church mass in order to
The reporter found out that the allegation was
not true, but his method of investigation – taking
part in the holy communion under disguise as
a Christian, then spitting out the holy wafer
for photo-taking – raised protests, particularly
sensitivity.
Critics of the magazine have pointed out that
the government would have unleashed the
full power of the law if it had been an act that
violated the sanctity of Islam. CIJ, however,
recognises and emphasises that the only way
to encourage tolerance is by allowing all media
to operate on an equal and free footing, and to
revoke all repressive media laws. The Al-Islam
case merely demonstrates the arbitrary nature
of the laws and their enforcement.
From left to right: Lawyer
Annou Xavier, Sundhagaran
Stanley and Joachim Francis
Xavier, from the Diocesan
Migrant Ministry at the Dang
Wangi Police station to follow
up on a report they lodged
against Al-Islam magazine
(right) for publishing an article
by a reporter deemed to have
desecrated the Church. Pic
courtesy of Sundhagaran
Stanley.

11
 Threats against online
media and bloggers

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) campaign logo on cyber censorship

12
A
s early in the year as March, during the
annual UMNO general assembly, online
media Malaysiakini, The Malaysian
Insider, Siasah, Merdeka Review and The Nut
Graph were barred from the event, supposedly
over questions of ethics.
Less than a month later, a photographer and a
reporter from MerdekaReview were barred from
covering the Prime Minister’s announcement
of his Cabinet lineup. The Chinese portal had
been publishing commentaries criticising pro-
Najib articles from other publications.
In August, the government plan to further
control the Internet through the use of filters
was exposed by the online and foreign media,
triggering a public outcry. According to news site
The Malaysian Insider, a call for tender had been
issued to companies to submit proposals to assist
the communications regulator MCMC evaluate
the feasibility of an Internet filter. The Ministry
of Information, Communications and Culture
expected the study to be completed by December
and a decision to be made by the National
Security Council headed by the Prime Minister.
Responding to public opposition, Information
Minister Rais Yatim confirmed the reports but
defended the filter as necessary for curbing
pornography. Nevertheless, just two days
later, the Prime Minister scrapped the plan,
reiterating the promise of no Internet censorship
as outlined in the Communications and
Multimedia Act 1998.
Rais has signaled that he agreed with
conservatives wanting greater control of the
Internet. Having the MCMC under his ministry’s
purview, he made it known that the Ministry was
actively monitoring and investigating websites.
The Prime Minister himself, in an answer to
parliamentarians’ questions in June, said that
civil servants were barred from visiting 39
sites deemed seditious, offensive or obscene,
adding that several of the sites were under
investigation.
In November, blogger Bernard Khoo was
questioned by the police over the posting of
a modified image of the police emblem. No
charge was filed against him.
Although it may appear that the online content
is not being subject to regulations as rigorous
and as effective as their print counterpart,
two cases demonstrate that the Malaysian
government does not lack any legal means to
prosecute online writers. The first, mentioned
earlier, is the prosecution against commentators
of the Perak crisis under Section 233(1) of the
Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,
which is found to be similar to the Sedition Act
in terms of scope and wording.
The second case is a criminal defamation
suit against prominent blogger Raja Petra
Kamarudin. He was charged in 2008 for an
article and a statutory declaration containing
allegations against the Prime Minister’s wife
Rosmah Mansor and was scheduled to go on
trial in 2009. However, Raja Petra has gone
into hiding, claiming that he was tipped off that
he would be arrested under the ISA for the
third time.
Critics have questioned why criminal
defamation was used, instead of civil
defamation, as Rosmah is not a government
official.
Two arrest warrants have been issued against
Raja Petra after he failed to turn up in court
on 23 April and 23 May. As the police were
unable to serve the warrant of arrest on him,
the Sessions Court granted him a discharge not
amounting to an acquittal on 11 November – for
his sedition case- and another discharge two
days later- for his criminal defamation case, but
the police effort to track him down is ongoing.
While he continues to run his website in hiding,
the government should make good its promise
of no Internet censorship by dropping the case
against him.
13
Muslims in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur protest against the High Court ruling on 31 December
allowing Christians to use the word “Allah” for denoting God. Pic courtesy of The Malaysian Insider.
Intolerance of diversity
C
riticism of the Malaysian government
has long been ill-tolerated. The
Malaysian public might occasionally
find in the mainstream media criticism of the
civil service, but not direct criticism of the Prime
Minister of the day. This remains unchanged
under the current administration. Having
assumed office at a time of global economic
trouble, weakened support for UMNO and,
more personally, while being linked to the trial
of his aide Abdul Razak Baginda for murder,
Najib forwent the spell of openness that had
marked the beginning of his two immediate
predecessors’ ascent to power.
Shortly after Najib assumed office, three
by-elections – seen as tests of his legitimacy –
were held simultaneously in the states of Perak,
Kedah and Sarawak. There was also a test for
the new Prime Minister’s openness, in which he
did not fare well. First, the police issued a ban
against any mention of the case of a murdered
Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu in
campaign speeches, as Pakatan and by various
bloggers had connected the Prime Minister
14
to the case. The ban extended to the media
as well. Malaysiakini reported that television
stations were ordered not to name one of the
accused – the Prime Minister’s aide Abdul
Razak – and to ignore his background when
reporting the judgment of the murder trial in
April. (Abdul Razak was eventually acquitted.)
Suara Keadilan, the PKR organ, continued
to be confiscated or its distributors harassed
although Najib had lifted the ban on the paper
when he became Prime Minister.
In July, a TV host was demoted to field reporter
status after she asked her guests to rate Najib’s
performance on the occasion of his 100th day
in office.
On 25 August, officials from the Publication
Control Unit of the Home Ministry seized copies
of the inaugural issues of cartoon magazine
Gedung Kartun from the publisher’s office in
Kuala Lumpur. According to its editor-in-chief
Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, better known as Zunar,
more than 400 copies were seized. Authorities
claimed Zunar had not secured a permit for
the publication, as mandated by the Printing
Presses and Publications Act 1984. Observers
said, however, that Zunar’s political cartoons
criticising the Prime Minister and his policies
were the real reason for the confiscation.
The Home Ministry confiscated Malaysian
Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent
Times on 24 December, as the books were
brought in to the country through a Port Klang
checkpoint, putting a gag on the circulation of
the book. Authored by Asian Wall Street Journal
former editor Barry Wain, the book contends,
among other things, that the fourth Prime
Minister was responsible for a loss of RM100
billion (US$28.6 billion) during his term in office.
Besides reining in critical views about
Malaysia’s Prime Ministers, both Federal and
state institutions have been actively controlling
the discourses on Islam. The preaching of Islam
other than in the country’s officially sanctioned
Sunnah Wal Jamaah ideology is disallowed.
An example of the extent of this control is that
the state Islamic council prepares the Friday
sermons to be preached by the mosque imam
throughout each state. The power of these
institutions was brought to the fore by the
arrest of Muslim scholar Mohd Asri Zainul
Abidin in November. A former mufti in Perlis
and known for his outspokenness, Asri was
arrested by the Selangor religious authority
for preaching unauthorised sermons and was
accused of spreading “Wahabbism”. Despite
the arrest drawing criticism from the opposition
parliamentarians and the Prime Minister,
charges were filed against Asri. In the same
month, the same religious authority also barred
PAS parliamentarian Khalid Abdul Samad from
preaching. The reason given was that Khalid’s
sermons were too “political”.
Women’s group Sisters in Islam (SIS) also raised
the ire of both the ruling and opposition parties
for opposing the caning of Muslim women. In
July, the Shari’ah court in Pahang sentenced
a woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, to
the maximum sentence of six strokes of the
cane and a fine of RM5,000 (US$1,430) for
drinking beer in public in 2007. Following a joint
statement by SIS and other women’s groups,
and SIS’s decision for legal intervention, the
UMNO women’s wing in Johor and 14 other
Muslim groups called on the government to
cancel the NGO’s registration. The Muslim
groups also lodged police reports against SIS.
Meanwhile, PAS Youth asked for a public
boycott of SIS for “being insolent”. Earlier in
June, during the PAS general assembly or
muktamar, a resolution was passed calling for
SIS to be banned. However, the party soon
claimed that the resolution was a mistake,
after running into disagreement with other
Pakatan partners and drawing criticism from the
public, especially given that the resolution was
sponsored by the branch headed by a politician
previously known for his comparatively
progressive stand.
A crucial incident highlighting the impact of
such intolerance to diverse religious discourse
has been the so-called “Allah” controversy.
The government has in March rescinded its
February permission for the Catholic weekly,
The Herald to use of four Arabic words –
“Allah”, “Kaabah”, “Baitullah” and “solat”– by
non-Muslims. The Catholic Church revealed
that the Home Ministry seized thousands of
copies of translated Bibles which use the word
“Allah” from the customs checkpoints in March
and September, while a petition for judicial
review filed by the churches was ongoing.
In March, religious authorities in Selangor
threatened the Bar Council with legal action for
holding an online poll on the issue of the usage
of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. The court
eventually ruled in favor of the Catholic Church
in December, but, following an appeal from the
government as well as protests from several
Muslim groups, a stay order was issued, meaning
that the ban was to remain in place. The Muslim
groups proceeded to organise demonstrations
in various parts of the capital city airing their
demand for “Allah” to be made exclusive for
Muslims. Although the police deemed the
demonstrations illegal, no arrests were made.
As the world entered into 2010, several Christian
churches were attacked with firebombs, believed
to be connected to this issue.
15
 Conclusion

G
iven the government’s political control over the media, it is
hard not to speculate on their role in the prominence of ethno-
religious discourse, and in the resulting tension. Malaysians
have limited and unequal access to alternative views, discourse and
information, which are available largely online and predominantly in
English. Such limited circulation of alternative views cannot effectively
challenge the ethno-religious dogma being circulated through the
mainstream media.

For many years, the policy of controlling information and expression

has been justified explicitly on security reason, or implicitly as
necessary to the social engineering project harboured upon the hope of
nation-building: unity and prosperity. It is time for Malaysians to realise
that both reasons have expired, if they were ever legitimate. Rather, the
inconsistent employment of the repressive laws is having a dangerous
impact on the unity, economy and security of Malaysians.

Despite progressive rhetoric, the government has been taking half-

measures to improve transparency and thus boost the country’s
competitiveness. This is not good enough, and the tensions and
violence that we have seen erupting are a direct result of repressive
legislations. Through 2009 and into 2010, CIJ continues to contend
that the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, Sedition Act 1948,
Official Secrets Act 1972 and Section 233(1) of the Communications
and Multimedia Act 1998 form a major impediment to transparency and
good governance. These laws must be repealed for any true reform to
materialise. 

16
17
Timeline of Events
Chronology of the crisis in Perak
Arrest of Demonstrators and Assemblymen
6 Feb Tear gas was fired at 3000-5000
demonstrators who had gathered to protest
the swearing-in of the new Chief Minister from
Barisan Nasional. Nine were arrested.
4 May Police warned supporters of BN
and Pakatan not to gather near the State
Secretariat building when the State Assembly
meeting convened. Civil society activist Wong
Chin Huat, also a spokesman for Bersih, was
detained by police for alleged sedition. His
arrest was linked to a press conference he had
called a day before, where he urged the public
to wear black the following day to protest the
change in administration in Perak.
6 May Wong’s remand order was extended two
more days. PAS vice-president Mohamad Sabu
was detained by police. Police also arrested
three others who attempted to present a cake
and letter to the Prime Minister on the birthday of
the murdered Mongolian, Altantuya Shaaribuu.
7 May The day of the State Assembly sitting
According to media, police arrested sixty-five
at the Perak state assembly, including Pakatan
leaders, parliamentarians and activists. Any
person wearing black was immediately detained.
Later that night, police arrested thirty two
protesters who gathered for candlelight vigils in
protest of Wong’s arrest and the events in Perak.
The protesters were arrested in Kuala Lumpur,
Penang and Sarawak. Among those arrested
were five lawyers who were there as counsel
for those who had been detained earlier. Home
Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein
praised the police crackdown.
9 May Police on Saturday stopped a DAP dinner
at a school and seized audiovisual equipment
that was being used to play a video about the
Perak assembly sitting. The technician handling
the equipment was also detained.
18
19 May DAP parliamentarians Teo Nie Ching
and Jenice Lee were among 11 people arrested
in a candlelight vigil calling for fresh elections
in Perak.
21 May The third protest to by the Pakatan saw
17 people including Jenice Lee being detained
by police in Ampang. Jenice Lee was remanded
for two days.
23 May Police raided the DAP headquarters in
Selangor and confiscated computers and flyers
about the Perak political crisis.
26 May Police arrested 21 people including
eight elected representatives for taking part in
a hunger strike calling for fresh election, being
held at the DAP headquarters. Among those
arrested were assemblymen Chang Lih Kang
(Teja), Chan Ming Kai (Simpang Pulai), Thomas
Su (Pasir Pinji), Lim Pek Har (Menglembu),
Leong Mee Meng (Jalong), Keshvinder Singh
(Malim Nawar), former Speaker V. Sivakumar,
Ipoh Barat Member of Parliament M.
Kulasegaran and six supporters.
Karpal Singh tried for sedition
11 Feb DAP Chairman, Karpal Singh gave a
statement to the police regarding police reports
made against him because he said in a press
conference that the Sultan can be sued for his
decision to remove Nizar Jamaluddin as Perak
Chief Minister. According to the police, 89 police
reports were lodged against Karpal, including
from UMNO members. On the same day,
Selangor Umno Youth chief Abdul Shukur Idrus
led 600 people from Umno Youth, Puteri Umno
and other NGOs in a protest march from the
state Umno building to the Shah Alam police
station to lodge a report Singh.
16 March Singh is charged with sedition.
29 April The High Court rejected Singh’s
application to get himself discharged from
his sedition case. The Court held that his
speech in the press conference can be taken
in totality as the basis for the charge without
having to specify the words or parts that are
seditious.
12 August An Utusan journalist, the first
prosecution witness, told the High Court that
he wrote an article for his newspaper based on
a partial understanding of the press statement
and mistaken the meaning of the words “ultra
vires” in the statement to mean “to insult”.
9 December Another prosecution witness, an
RTM deputy news director, said the television
station had labeled Singh as having committed
treason in the station’s reporting of the press
conference.
14 December A prosecution witness from
a student NGO, Gabungan Pelajar Melayu
Semenanjung Perak, said he lodged a police
report because he was not ‘satisfied’ that Singh
had questioned the legality of the BN state
government in Perak.
Media control
12 Feb 10000 to 20000 copies of political party
organs Suara Keadilan and Harakah were
reported confiscated in various parts of the
country since January.
23 March The Home Ministry suspended
Harakah and Suara Keadilan for three months.
The ban was lifted by Najib Razak on April 3
when he sworn in as Prime Minister but PKR
complained that government officials continued
to harass distributors and confiscate the paper.
3 May BN Perak State Secretary Dr Abdul
Rahman Hashim barred a number of media
organizations, including online news sites,
from covering the state assembly sitting, due
to begin on 7 May. However, the Pakatan
assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar lifted the ban.
BN appointed Chief Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir
denied that he had issued the ban.
13 May Malaysiakini reported that media
conglomerate, Media Prima, had banned the
airing of footage showing the Pakatan assembly
Speaker Sivakumar being dragged out of the
sitting on 7 May. Media Prima owns four free-to-
air television stations and is affiliated with UMNO.
Police action and intimidation against
bloggers
23 Feb Police investigated blogger, Jed Yoong
Yui Foong for posting a translation of another
blogger’s posting criticizing the Perak Sultan.
24 Feb Police questioned blogger Ahiruddin
Attan (Rocky Bru) over comments left on his
blog about the role of the monarchy by known
and annoymous commentators.
13 March In an unprecedented move, six
people were charged for having “insulted”
Sultan of Perak through a website. A lab
assistant was fined RM 10000 in default 5
months’ jail for the same offence.
16 March A husband and wife were charged in
the Sessions Court for posting comments on
the Sultan of Perak’s website, disagreeing with
the Royals’ role in the Perak crisis.
15 April A housewife was charged in a
Sessions Court with forwarding comments
against the Sultan of Perak. Her husband was
among the six charged on 13 March. Both
of them later claimed to have received death
threats via email.
22 April Gagasan Melayu Perak (GMP) lodged
a police report against Malaysiakini for an article
allegedly insulting Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak
and the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah.
21 October A total of 11 people were
charged under Section 211 and 233 of the
Communication and Multimedia Act which
involve a fine of up to RM 24,500, for insulting
the Sultan of Perak, revealed the Minister of
Information.
19
Timeline of Events
Right to Assembly
7 March Riot police fired teargas at thousands
of people who tried to march towards the Istana
Negara (National Palace), to protest against the
policy of using English to teach Science and
Mathematics. 124 were arrested.
17 April Seven people, including four lawyers,
were acquitted and discharged for taking part
in a walk to mark World Human Rights Day in
2007.
19 May Batu MP Tian Chua was ordered by a
magistrate’s court to enter his defence against
a charge of injuring a policeman in December
2007, during a Bersih rally.
24 May 1000 supporters of the Sri Lankan
separatist group Tamil Tigers assembled
at Sri Subramaniar temple in Jalan Besar,
Batu Caves, Gombak. Despite not having
a police permit, it was attended by Deputy
Minister M. Saravanan and two opposition
parliamentarians. No arrests were made.
15 June Police fired tear gas to disperse 700
Iranians, mostly university students, outside
Wisma UN in Jalan Semantan. They were
protesting the results of the Iranian presidential
elections.
18 June Five people who were students at
the time of their arrest were fined RM 3,900 or
three months’ jail by the magistrate’s court for
attending an anti-ISA assembly in 2001 . They
had been suspended from their undergraduate
studies when charged in 2001.
19 June Police arrested 14 Burmese nationals
for taking part in a gathering organized by the
Selangor state government to celebrate the
64th birthday of activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
17 July Seven were arrested at the former
MACC Selangor headquarters at Plaza
Masalam for gathering to demand an
investigation into the death of political aide,
20
Teoh Beng Hock. Pakatan parliamentarians S.
Manikavasagam and Xavier Jayakumar were
among those arrested, while MP Gan Pei Nei
and a state assembly aide, Loo Chuan Boon
were injured during a scuffle with the riot police.
17 July Three were arrested for submitting a
memorandum of against the killings of Muslims
in southern Thailand to the Thai embassy.
23 July Police detained 10 people, including
MIC Youth coordinator T. Mohan, when about
50 people were to march towards Komtar
to hand over a memorandum to the Chief
Minister’s office on an eviction issue.
28 July Police warned that they will take stern
action against any party that participates in
any assembly in the capital on 1 August. The
warning came as two rallies had been planned
for that day, by groups with opposing stands on
the ISA.
1 August Police arrested 589 people, fired tear
gas and water cannons at numerous locations
in the city after thousands of people took to
the streets calling for a repeal of the ISA.
Thousands were blocked from reaching the
venue, as the capital city was practically sealed
off. Media reported that the crowd consisted of
between 5,000 and 15,000 protesters.
2 August Najib Razak said the government will
allow future mass rally in stadiums and urged
the people not to take to the streets.
2 August Police released 560 out of 589
people detained the previous day. Those
released included a 13 year old.
3 August 29 people claimed trial to the charge
of illegal assembly, having been arrested during
protests calling for the abolition of the ISA.
13 August The Public Service director-general
Ismail Adam issued a circular warning that civil
servants found participating in illegal gatherings
or “causes” would be demoted or sacked.
19 August The Home Minister said the
government is to amend the Police Act to allow
public assemblies in certain locations, without
the need for a police permit.
16 September 15 indigenous people, including
two indigenous rights leaders were arrested
for submitting a memorandum to the Sarawak
chief minister, Taib Mahmud, protesting the
construction of the Murum Dam. They were
released on the same day.
October 11 All those charged with illegal
assembly at the Kesas Highway in 2000, where
police action was condemned by the Malaysian
human rights commission as being excessive,
were acquitted. No police investigation has
taken place into the incident.
ISA and the release of Hindraf
leaders
5 April 13 people including Hindraf leaders
V. Ganabatirau, and R. Kengadharan were
released from the ISA detention centre in
Kamunting, Taiping. Ganabatirau later claimed
he was prevented from speaking to the media
for a year as one of the conditions for his
release.
17 April Inspector General Police, Musa
Hassan confirmed the arrest of three men in
Johor under the ISA.
20 April Malaysiakini reported that the police
has been pressuring the family members of ISA
detainee Agus Salim to stop them from seeking
help or getting their plight heard. Agus was
detained on 5 March allegedly due to suspected
links with Islamic fundamentalists.
8 May The three remaining Hindraf leaders,
P. Uthayakumar, M.Manoharan and Vasantha
Kumar were released from the Kamunting
detention centre, after 514 days of incarceration
under the ISA. On 16 April, the trio had failed
in their habeas corpus appeal. P. Uthayakumar
still has a sedition case pending, as he failed to
get the Sessions Court to strike out the charge.
Seven foreigners detained under the ISA were
also released.
19 May Former ISA detainee P. Uthayakumar
failed to appear before an advisory panel
meeting at the Kamunting detention camp near
here, for which the Home Minister Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein said no action will be
taken against him.
27 May Alleged JI militant Mas Selamat Kastari
is detained under the ISA.
16 June The Home Minister said the ISA
may be used to crush the ‘Federal Special
Forces of Malaysia (FSFM)’, believed to be
a fraud organization modeled as a civilian
army.
25 June Home Minister Hishammuddin
Hussein said in reply to question in parliament
that there were only 12 ISA detainees left in
Kamunting, comprising 6 Malaysians and 6
foreigners. He said they were under detention
for either involvement in militant activities or for
forging documents.
25 June Hussein said the Government is
looking into a proposal to reduce the detention
period under ISA from 60 to 28 days.
19 October The government maintained its
stance that it will not scrap the ISA.
22 October The Home Ministry announced
that the review of ISA will be on five areas : the
treatment accorded to ISA detainees: their living
conditions, meals and other basic needs; the
duration of their sentence, that is the initial 60
days’ detention for investigations and the two-
year detention order; the powers of the Home
Minister in invoking the act and the abuse of
such powers he holds; the perception that the
ISA is or may be exploited for political reasons;
and the provisions in the ISA which allow for
detention without trial.
21
Timeline of Events

The “Allah” issue 13 March The song Allah Peduli by Indonesian

26 Feb Home Ministry lifted a ban on the word
“Allah”, which had been restricted to Muslim
publications, provided non-Muslim religious
publications using the word state prominently
that the publication is for non-Muslims only.
Catholic weekly Herald had applied for a judicial
review of the ban in 2008. The application
was deemed academic when the Herald’s
publication permit expired in Dec 2008, so the
Herald reapplied for a judicial review on 16 Feb.
artist Agnes Monica has been banned in
Selangor, as Allah in the lyrics pertains to Jesus
Christ.
5 September Catholic weekyly The Herald
received a letter from the Home Ministry stating
that it has not approved the publishing permit
for 2010, although in August it had approved
it to print in four out of the five languages they
had requested, excluding the KadazanDusun
language.

2 March The government rescinded its earlier 4 November The Council of Churches
decision to lift the ban on the use of the word revealed that 15,000 Bahasa Malaysia Bibles
“Allah”. were prevented from being distributed by the
Home Ministry in March and in September for
5 March Religious adviser in the PM containing ‘banned’terminology. The Christian
department, Abdullah Md Zin said 10 states Federation of Malaysia (CFM) called for the
with Sultans have gazetted the ban on the immediate release of the Bibles.
usage of “Allah”, “Kaabah”, “Solat” and
“Baitullah” by non Muslims, while a fatwa 14 November The Home Minister
on a similar ban had been issued to the held a meeting with representatives of
remaining four states, none of which have the Catholic Church explaining that the
a Sultan. August permit was valid and that they
are to ignore the September letter.
12 March The Selangor Islamic Religious
Council (Mais) threatened legal action 31 December The High Court allowed
against the Bar Council over its poll on the The Herald to use the word “Allah” for
use of the word Allah by non-Muslims. Christians.

22
Restrictions against discourse
of Islam
Call to ban SIS
7 June PAS passed a resolution urging that
women rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS)
be banned and called for the National Fatwa
Council to investigate SIS. On the same day,
PAS’s partner in Pakatan, PKR issued a
statement disagreeing with the resolution.
9 June MP Teresa Kok of DAP and the Minister
for Women, Family and the Community
Shahrizat Abdul Jalil criticized PAS’s resolution.
10 June Former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
criticized PAS for its call to ban SIS.
11 June PKR MP Zulkifli Noordin wants the
Companies Commission (CCM) to stop SIS
from using the word “Islam” in its title. The CCM
said it is unable to do so.
14 June PAS said its resolution calling for the
banning of women’s group, SIS, was a mistake
and that the ‘correct’ resolution called for
engagement with the women’s group.
16 June Wanita Gerakan urged PAS to
withdraw its resolution.
2 October Fourteen Muslim NGOs lodged
police reports against SIS for questioning the
caning of women under the Islamic law. The
NGOs demanded SIS “apologize for having
insulted Islamic law and the Shar’iah court”.
6 October UMNO Wanita Johor called on the
government to cancel the registration of SIS,
the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality
(JAG) and the Womens’ Aid Organization
(WAO), in the light of the group’s statement
against the whipping of a former model.
The Former Perlis mufti
2 November While conducting a religious class
in a private home, former Perlis mufti Dr Mohd
Asri Zainul Abidin was arrested by the Selangor
Religious Affairs Department (JAIS), on the
grounds of preaching without certification. His
arrest was questioned by parliamentarians,
including the Prime Minister, but JAIS defended
its actions, and revealed that it had been
monitoring Asri’s preaching for three years.
18 November Abidin was charged for
preaching without certification at the Shari’ah
Court under Section 119 of the Islamic
Administration of Selangor. If convicted,
Asri can be fined up to RM3,000 and faces
imprisonment of up to two years.
25 November Opposition MP Khalid Abdul
Samad’s authorization to preach Islam was
revoked by JAIS, on the ground that his
preaching is too political.
23
Timeline of Events
Online censorship
16 June The Prime Minister told Parliament
that civil servants are banned from visiting
39 websites and blogs containing “offensive,
obscene or seditious elements”.
7 July The Information Minister, Rais Yatim
revealed that special units have been set
up under both the Home and Information
Ministries to monitor blogs, adding that the
regulation of bloggers comes under both the
Printing Presses and Publications Act and the
Communications and Multimedia Act.
8 July The Deputy Minister of Science and
Technology revealed that the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission
(MCMC) had shut down 33 websites said to
contain pornographic materials, and that a
further 15 similar websites had been asked to
shut down.
6 August AFP, quoting an anonymous source,
reported that the government was considering
imposing an internet filter to block “undesirable”
websites, on the grounds of maintaining racial
harmony. Local portal The Malaysian Insider
reported that the government had called for
proposals from companies for internet content
filtering systems.
7 August Yatim confirmed that an internet
filtering system would be set up to filter
pornography. Civil societies, opposition
members and bloggers cried foul.
8 August, The Prime Minister refuted the
Information Minister’s statements about the
internet filter and said that the Government will
not impose any censorship on the internet.
4 September The MCMC ordered Malaysiakini
to remove from its website two videos. The
first video depicted protesters stomping a cow
head, a symbol of the Hindu religion, while
agitating against the relocation of a Hindu
24
temple. The second video was the Home
Minister’s press conference in defence of the
protesters.
4 November Blogger Bernard Khoo Teng
Swee, who writes zorro-unmasked.blogspot.
com, was questioned by police over a posting
in 2008 of a photo which carried the emblem
of the Royal Malaysian Police, on which was
superimposed the image of a dog.
19 November The Information Minister told the
Parliament that the MCMC had charged eight
website operators under the CMA. Seven of
the websites were said to have insulted Islam.
A total of seventy-one investigations had been
carried out by the MCMC.
Raja Petra Kamarudin
23 April The Sessions Court issued a warrant
of arrest against Petra Kamarudin and a
show-cause notice to his wife, Marina, because
the former failed to show up at his criminal
defamation trial. The blogger claimed on his
website, Malaysia Today, that he is in self-exile
and fears another arrest under the ISA.
26 June Second arrest warrant out for
Kamarudin after he failed to attend his criminal
defamation trial at the Sessions Court.
11 November Kamaruddin’s Sedition case was
suspended because the police were unable to
track him down.
13 November Kamarudin’s criminal defamation
case was suspended because the police was
unable to track him down.
On the media
16 Jan Two journalists from Merdeka Review
lodged a police report for have been given cash
at the Barisan Nasional common media centre
during the Kuala Terengganu by-election.
Opposition parliamentarian Teo Nie Ching’s
question to the Prime Minister on the issue
during the next day’s Parliament sitting was
rejected. The anti-corruption commission also
decided to drop the case on 20 Jan despite
informing the reporters that it would launch an
investigation.
24 March Six online media organizations -
Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider,
Siasah, Merdeka Review and The Nut Graph -
were barred from covering proceedings of the
UMNO general assembly. The reason given by
the UMNO sec-general Tengku Adnan was that
the media were not “ethical”.
31 March In his blog, the Penang Chief Minister
Lim Guan Eng said the state has banned the
New Straits Times from the state’s functions
until the paper provides the administration
with the right of reply. Lim said that the paper
has carried inaccurate reports about his
administration.
18 April Malaysiakini reported that Media Prima
Berhad – the owner of the four TV stations TV3,
ntv7, 8TV and tv9 - had ordered the stations not
to name political analyst and defendant Abdul
Razak Baginda when reporting the judgement
of the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.
8 May MCA President Ong Tee Keat lodged
a police report against Chinese language
magazine Hao Wai (Special Weekly) for
defamation under the Printing Presses and
Publication Act and criminal defamation. The
magazine editor and two staff were questioned
by police.
3 June The MIC urged the Government to take
action against columnist “Awang Selamat” for
referring to the Chinese and Indians Malaysians
in Malaysia as immigrants.
5 June A reporter from Utusan Malaysia,
Hasnurul Mohamd was barred from covering
the swearing in of the Seberang Perai Municipal
Council President in Penang.
24 June Home Minister Hishammuddin
Hussein said the government has no plan to
abolish the Printing Presses and Publications
Act or the ISA.
13 July Police have started investigating
a police report on an article published by
magazine Al-Islam. The article, written by
a Muslim reporter who went undercover to
participate in a church mass was deemed
offensive to Christians.
15 July A journalist with private television
channel ntv7, Florence Looi, was issued a memo
and her talkshow program shelved after she
asked her panel guests to rate the performance
of the Prime Minister in his first 100 days.
25 August The newspaper vendors association
and MIC members lodged a police report against
the Malay Mail for publishing an article discussing
the party’s internal politics, pictures of MIC
leaders labelled as belonging to lower castes. The
Malay Mail responded with a clarification and took
down the pictures from its web edition.
25 November A reporter from Utusan Malaysia,
Yazid Aliaz was asked to leave a press
conference organized by Pakatan Rakyat in
Selangor.
14 December Vice Chairman of DAP M.
Kulasegaran made a police report against
“Awang Selamat” for suggesting that the DAP
would abolish the monarchy if it came to power.
17 December Malaysiakini reported that a
meeting was called by the Home Ministry with
newspaper editors to discuss the adoption
of a new set of publishing guidelines. The
elaborate but ambiguously worded guidelines
were framed as “self-regulation”. Among others,
they were not to give detailed descriptions
of criminal offences such as rape, murder,
robbery; nothing about cohabitation, adultery,
homosexuality, counter-culture; and no graphics
of human genitalia and G-strings.
25
Timeline of Events
Restriction of campaigning
at by-elections
6 January Police arrested six PKR
members for putting up posters of
the murdered Mongolian, Altantuya
Shaariibuu, at Kuala Terengganu,
during a by-election campaigning
period.
23 March Thirty-one were arrested at
a PKR ceramah in Sungai Petani. The
crowd, reported to be around 1,000
strong, had assembled to listen to
Anwar Ibrahim’s campaign speech for
the Bukit Selambau by-election. They
were met with tear gas and water
cannon from the police.
27 March Police banned all political
parties from giving talks in open areas
throughout the Bukit Selambau by-
election. Election watchdog ‘Malaysians
for Free and Fair Elections’ (Mafrel)
said there was heavy, unjustified police
presence during three by-elections in
Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and
Batang Ai.
31 March Topics such as the
Shaariibuu murder and the Perak
political crisis, as well as race and
religion, were banned from campaign
speeches in the triple by-elections
of Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau
and Batang Ai. The topic restrictions
were made specific as conditions of
obtaining a police permit for public
speeches.
30 May The police said they are
investigating three Pakatan leaders
including DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang,
in relation their public speeches
during the Penanti by-election.
26
Others
9 March Two students, Choo Kok Wei and Medecci
Lineil Repong from Universiti Utara Malaysia in Sintok,
Kedah, were charged by the university with breaching
the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA).
They had issued statements to the media condemning
an increase in bus fares and started an online petition.
The students and others presented a memorandum
to the office of the vice chancellor for student affairs,
Ahmad Faiz Hamid, on Jan 19.
21 July The Home Ministry issued a prohibition order
on 13 publications with “immoral content” and deemed
unsuitable for the reading public.
8 August The Home Ministry banned 22 books in the
seven months to July this year said the Publications
Control Division and Al-Quran Text Division principal
assistant secretary Abdul Razak Abdul Latif
9 September Six men were charged with sedition
in the Sessions Court for their involvement in the
“cowhead” protest.
14 September A protest was held against the Malaysian
Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)’s
investigation of online news website Malaysiakini, which
had been accused of fanning racial tension.
28 September Bruno was banned by the National Film
Censorship Board
13 October 8 students from University Malaya were
charged under the UUCA for inviting an opposition
politician, Exco of Selangor state Teresa Kok to
be part of their panel judges for an on-campus
debate competition, despite amendments to the law
which allows students interaction with politicians on
academic occasion.
24 Dec Copies of Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir
Mohamad in Turbulent Times were confiscated from
the Port Klang checkpoint for “content study” by the
Home Ministry.
About CIJ
The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is a non-profit organization which
aspires to create a society that is democratic, just and free, where all people
will enjoy free media and the freedom to express, seek and impart information.

CIJ was started in response to the political crisis of 1998 as Saksi.com, a

website that attempted to give broad analysis to current events. Today we
have expanded our effort to advocacy of freedom of expression (FOE) and
information (FOI) and to encourage proffesional journalism practices
and media freedom in Malaysia.

Our objectives;
• Promote and defend the exercise of FOE
• Raise public awareness on FOE/FOI to mobilize support for
media freedom, expression and access to information.
• Ensure good policies and advocating legislative change
• Facilitating marginalized voice through community radio

Contact Us
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The Centre for Indepedent Journalism (CIJ)

would like to thank Malaysiakini.com,
The Malaysian Insider, Merdeka Review,
Amin Iskandar, and Sundhagran Stanley for providing
and allowing us to use the photographs in this report.
Individual credits are in the photograph captions.

Cover picture by Amin Iskandar

Published by Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) 2010
ISBN: 983 44026

Writer/ Researcher: Yip Wai Fong

Editor: Sonia Randhawa, Chuah Siew Eng