Kadir Jasin: “Keeping Comms Minister Fahmi Fadzil happy isn’t easy

Focus Malaysia:

Kadir Jasin: “Keeping Comms Minister Fahmi Fadzil happy isn’t easy”

By Datuk A. Kadir Jasin

ON July 29, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was reported stating in his Facebook post that new regulations for social media and internet messaging services are intended to tackle the spread of crime and harmful information, thereby creating a safer online environment for all users.

He was reported acknowledging that while some of these regulations may be unpopular but they are nevertheless essential for the public good.

It would seem that keeping Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil who is the custodian of social media and internet messaging services happy and the government assured with the media isn’t easy.

While Fahmi looks like one angry young man, the government appears uncomfortable with open discussions in the media.

To a person of my age, Fahmi is young. He’s only 43. That means, he was one-year old when Anwar joined UMNO in 1982 and was 17 when Anwar was booted out and went on to launch the reformasi movement as his new platform.

His July 21 public admonition of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din was further proof of his growing disgruntlement with social media.

Brazenly, he instructed Salim who is a businessman, to take immediate action against false news, cheating and cyber-bullying on social media. Is the MCMC a competent authority on false news, cheating and cyber-bullying?

Fault finding mission

I quote verbatim from the July 21 Berita Harian report: “Tan Sri (Pengerusi MCMC), di hadapan semua termasuk Perdana Menteri (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) dan Ketua Setiausaha Negara (Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali), saya arahkan awak untuk buat sesuatu (berhubung isu itu).

(Translated: “Tan Sri (Chairman of MCMC), in front of everyone including the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and the Chief Secretary (Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali), I instruct you to do something (regarding the issue).”)

If that wasn’t arrogance, then what? In recent times, he appears to have found all sorts of shortcomings with the media and now with an agency under his own supervision.

And if that wasn’t an instruction, I don’t know what. It’s becoming obvious by the day that the Madani government is abandoning the core ideology of reformasi which is freedom of expression.

Previously, Fahmi had repeatedly denied that he had instructed the MCMC and social media platforms to block reports deemed unfavourable to the government or considered offensive.

He was even unhappy with the news headlines concerning the outcomes of the trial of several people linked to the socks bearing the word “Allah”. This could be partly because one of the people involved is known to be close to the Prime Minister.

Datuk A. Kadir Jasin

Now the instruction is out for all social media and internet messaging services to be registered with the government. It amounts to an administrative expansion of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

No wonder Anwar’s once-dedicated campaigner Ambiga Sreenevasan resorted to describing the Madani government as “the most dictatorial government we’ve ever had”.

But as fate would have it, the mighty Zeus suffered a taste of his own medicine on Aug 1 when the lightning struck not his enemies but his boss.

Facebook (Meta) took down Anwar’s posting a day earlier on the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. – Aug 4, 2024



Veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin is a national journalism and laureate.