Civil society criticises MCM for investigating news website

By: Meena L. Ramadas (Mon, 14 Sep 2009)KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 14, 2009) : Non-governmental organisations and civil society members held a protest to condemn the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for investigating online news website Malaysiakini for allegedly fanning racial tension.

A group of about 20 placard-carrying bloggers and individuals from National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI), human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and Writer Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) took part in the 10-minute protest this morning outside the Malaysiakini office in Bangsar.

“MCMC should not only target and haress Malaysiakini because there are other media organisations that fan racial issues,”said NIEI chairman Yunus Ali.

Malaysiakini had come under the MCMC scrutiny after posting two videos – documenting the ‘cow-head’ protest – which it deemed as offensive to the public.

The online news portal was asked to take down the two videos Temple demo: Residents march with cow’s head on Aug 28 and Hisham: Don’t blame cow-head protesters on Sept 2.

On Sept 8, eight MCMC officers questioned 12-people, including Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran, editors, journalists, video team members and a technical staff.

The article stipulates that everyone has the right to hold an opinion and express it.

“If the government is serious about putting people first, they should respect individual rights to information,” said NIEI executive director Amin Iskandar.

“As a member of the public, I’m concerned about what is going on. Is this a persecution of the news messenger?” said columnist Fahmi Fadzil.

“Why can’t Malaysians in this age of Twitter and Facebook get access to information as freely and openly as they can?” he added.

Amin also said that individuals should be free to seek, access and spread information and opinions via any media organisation.

In a press conference after the protest, Premesh defended the news website, saying: “We are just reporting the news. The country needs to move towards freedom of the media to report factually and accurately.”

“We have reported accurately on the matter so we believe that we are on good grounds and are quite prepared to defend ourselves in the court of law if MCMC decides to charge us,” he added.

Chandran added that the staff are cooperating with the commission and MCMC should not prolong the investigation.

Tags: The Sun