Security minister, not editors, should resign

Joint statement against political interference in media

Noh Omar should resign instead of the editors-in-chief of China Press

Abusive practices in the police force are increasingly getting out of hand, as shown by media exposure of long-standing practices, such as the strip search of four women from China and the video clip of a woman being forced to squat naked while holding her ears.

While the public is waiting for the report of the independent commission on the “nude ear-squat issue”, the media is being attacked, the most serious being the resignation of the editor-in-chief and the executive editor-in-chief of China Press.

We, civil society organizations committed to social reform, are appalled and saddened by these developments. We are appalled that no one has yet resigned and taken full responsibility for this abuse of power. At the same time, the press is being persecuted by the Internal Security Ministry. These incidents are hampering the effort of new national leaders to expose wrong-doing and initiate reform.

To support the media exposing corruption and abuse of power in the police force, to uncover political interference in the media and to push for legislation that safeguards press freedom and the right to freedom of speech, we have formed “Action against Political Interference in Media” (API-Media). Freedom of speech and media freedom are part of freedom of expression. They are basic civil rights. The series of interferences by the Government has eroded these basic civil rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.

We will continue to pressure the Government to take action against the corruption and abuse of power in the police force. We further call on the Government to implement the recommendations of reform as proposed by the report of the Royal Commission on the Police and set up the permanent Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

We urge members of the public to stand up and be counted in support of media practitioners committed to exposing social injustices. Their bravery in exposing the truth will serve as a force for reform.

We would like to draw the attention of public members to the following:

The Government should accept monitoring by the media and public opinion. If Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi wants the people to work with him, he should not turn a blind eye on government officials abusing their power to put pressure on the media and conceal the truth. He must take action against Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar for protecting the police and further threatening media freedom.

We are against the annual licensing of the press. It is merely a tool to form government control of the media. Freedom of speech and freedom to publish are basic civil rights, they cannot be infringed arbitrarily. We call for the abolition of clauses that infringe freedom of speech, the press and freedom to publish in the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act.

We also demand that the Internal Security Act be abolished. We call for a bill on freedom of information or the right to information to promote press freedom and uphold the right to know of the people and for the Official Secrets Act to be amended or abolished.

All media have a responsibility to correct reports if necessary. However, the Internal Security Ministry, or any other ministry, should have no power to interfere in the operations of the media or to use the threat of suspending a publishing license to put pressure on the media.

This statement is endorsed by:

1. Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI)
2. Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
3. Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall Youth (SCAHY)
4. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
5. National Human Rights Society (HAKAM)
6. Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR)
7. Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas)
8. Komite Seni Jalan Telawi (KSJT)
9. Institut Kajian Dasar (IKD)
10. Civil Rights Committee – SCAH
11. Democratic Action Party (DAP)
12. Red Rose Youth Center
13. Women’s Development Collective (WDC)
14. Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor (PERMAS)
15. Merdeka Review
16. Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
17. Partners of Community Organization (PACOS)
18. Tenaganita
19. Sisters in Islam (SIS)
20. Persekutuan Persatuan-Persatuan Lembaga Pengurus Sekolah Cina Malaysia (Dong Zong)
21. United Chinese School Teachers’ Association (Jiao Zong)
22. Malaysian Youth and Students Democratic Movement (DEMA)
23. Malaysian Voters Union (MALVU)
24. Save Ourselves (SOS)
25. Media Agenda Malaysia
26. Indigenous People’s Development Centre (IPDC)
27. Kaki Seni
28. Group of Concerned Citizens
29. DAP Wanita
30. DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY)
31. Centre for Orang Asli Community (COAC)
32. Labour Resouce Center (LRC)
33. Sustainable Development Network Malaysia (SUSDEN)
34. Cahaya Suara
35. Malaysian Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET)
36. Malaysiakini
37. Kumpulan Aktivist Media Independen (KAMI)
38. Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM)
39. Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Se-Malaysia (GAMIS)
40. Kelab Rakan Islah Malaysia (KARISMA)
41. Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS)
42. Community Development Center (CDC)
43. Negeri Sembilan Chinese Assembly Hall Youth Section
44. The Federation of Chinese Association, Johor State Youth Section
45. Selangor Hokkien Association Youth Section
46. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Shing An Selangor & W.P
47. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Kwang Tung Rawang
48. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Kaum Nam Ann Low Malaysia
49. Selangor & Kuala Lumpur Nam Ann Association Youth Section
50. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Hui An Quangang Wilayah Persekutuan dan Selangor
51. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Fui Chiu Wilayah Persekutuan & Selangor
52. Bahagian Belia PersatuanWui Leng Selangor & Kuala Lumpur
53. Charter 2000-Aliran

Memorandum to Suhakam on the political interference in China Press

Background

On 23 November 2005, China Press reported that a video clip of a China women doing nude squatting was in public circulation. The next day, DAP’s member of Parliament Teresa Kok showed the MMS video clip to the media in the Parliament.

Subsequently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi announced the setting up of an independent commission to investigate the incident on 1 December 2005 and the Home Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid was sent to China to explain the incident on 4 December 2005. On 7 December 2005, Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid issued an apology to the China government.

The event took a turnabout when the probe of the Royal Commission revealed on 13 December 2005 that the woman involved in the video clip was actually a local and not a China citizen.On 28 December 2006, Merdeka Review reported that China Press was issued a show cause letter by the Internal Security Ministry dated 19 December 2005 over its news report alleging the woman in the video clip being a China woman.

On 6 January 2006, China Press announced the resignation of its editor-in-chief, Chong Choong Nam and the executive editor-in-chief, Wong Siew Peng. China Press also issued an apology over the misreport of the nationality of the woman involved in the nude squat video.

Abuse of power by the Executive

In a democratic society, the free press plays an important role in monitoring the behavior of the government in order to prevent any abuse of power. The Executive therefore should refrain from directly interfering the press and upset the checks and balances system that is the cornerstone of a democracy.

In the case of China Press, although it misreported that the woman involved in the video was a China woman, this is however a mistake that can be resolved by requesting China Press to publish a clarification announcement and a public apology, an international accepted practice in most democratic country. In other democratic countries with independent press council, complaints can be made as well against any media and punitive fine can be meted out, but definitely not suspending or revoking their publishing licenses.

Hence, we condemn strongly the show cause letter issued to China Press, the threat to suspend the license of the evening version of China Press by the Internal Security Ministry, which eventually led to the resignation of the two top editors of China Press. This is a direct interference of the press and an abuse of power by the Internal Security Ministry to shut the media from further exposing the scandals in the police force and embarrassing the Internal Security Ministry.

We view the non-transparency of the Internal Security Ministry and the failure of the Deputy Minister Noh Omar in providing correct information to the public and the government as the main root-cause for the confusion in the media and the unnecessary apology to the China government. We question why no immediate clarification was made by Noh Omar if the nationality of the woman in the nude squat video was mistakenly reported by the media.

We question the rationale of our government sending a delegation to China to make a public apology if the woman in the video is a local.However, instead of taking the responsibilities of being non-transparent and giving wrong information to the public and government, the ministry under Noh Omar chose to dish out its threat to suspend the evening version license of China Press, an uncontrolled power to the government provided by the Printing Presses and Publication Act (PPPA).

Conclusion

The China Press incident, if left unchecked, will send a chilling effect to all other media agencies and will result in the media in refraining themselves or practicing extreme self censorship when it comes to reporting the abuse of power of the Executive. This will undoubtedly have an adverse implication to the right to free press and the crucial checks and balances system in our democracy.Therefore, we call on the Suhakam to defend the democratic right to free press and the right to information and expression of the people by:

Initiating a public inquiry on the China Press incident and investigate the abuse of the Printing Presses and Publication Act by the Executive.

Taking all possible measures to abolish the annual licensing of the press.

Ensuring the government adopts a Freedom of Information Act in order to safeguard the right to information of the people.

Endorsed by:
1. Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI)
2. Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
3. Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall Youth (SCAHY)
4. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
5. National Human Rights Society (HAKAM)
6. Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR)
7. Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas)
8. Komite Seni Jalan Telawi (KSJT)
9. Institut Kajian Dasar (IKD)
10. Civil Rights Committee – SCAH
11. Democratic Action Party (DAP)
12. Red Rose Youth Center
13. Women’s Development Collective (WDC)
14. Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor (PERMAS)
15. Merdeka Review16. Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
17. Partners of Community Organization (PACOS)
18. Tenaganita
19. Sisters in Islam (Sis)
20. Persekutuan Persatuan-Persatuan Lembaga Pengurus Sekolah Cina Malaysia (Dong Zong)
21. United Chinese School Teachers’ Association (Jiao Zong)
22. Malaysian Youth and Students Democratic Movement (DEMA)
23. Malaysian Voters Union (MALVU)
24. Save Ourselves (SOS)
25. Media Agenda Malaysia
26. Indigenous People’s Development Centre (IPDC)
27. Kaki Seni
28. Group of Concerned Citizens
29. DAP Wanita
30. DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY)
31. Centre for Orang Asli Community (COAC)
32. Labour Resource Center (LRC)
33. Sustainable Development Network Malaysia (SUSDEN)
34. Cahaya Suara
35. Malaysian Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET)
36. Malaysiakini
37. Kumpulan Aktivist Media Independen (KAMI)
38. Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM)
39. Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Se-Malaysia (GAMIS)
40. Kelab Rakan Islah Malaysia (KARISMA)
41. Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS)
42. Community Development Center (CDC)
43. Negeri Sembilan Chinese Assembly Hall Youth Section
44. The Federation of Chinese Association, Johor State Youth Section
45. Selangor Hokkien Association Youth Section
46. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Shing An Selangor & W.P
47. Bahagian Belia Persatuan KwangTung Rawang
48. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Kaum Nam Ann Low Malaysia
49. Selangor & Kuala Lumpur Nam Ann Association Youth Section
50. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Hui An Quangang Wilayah Persekutuan dan Selangor
51. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Fui Chiu Wilayah Persekutuan & Selangor
52. Bahagian Belia Persatuan Wui Leng Selangor & Kuala Lumpur
53. Research for Social Advancement (REFSA)
54. Amnesty International