PPPA 1984 - remember Guan Eng 1995, remember Suqui 2000

MM Online - Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 should be repealed, not reviewed — Geramm(extracts):

4 news media kantoi-ed under Ops Lalang

MARCH 14 — Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) welcomes the reported statement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that the government would review the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 to enable writing, broadcasting and publishing to be not overly confined to guidelines.

At the same time, Geramm however reiterates our stand that the PPPA should be abolished in whole.

We believe that the most contentious element of the Act is the need for a permit to publish as it could and had been used against publications viewed as critical of the government of the day.

We firmly believe that there are other existing laws which could be used to regulate contents of printed media and the government should return the rights to publish without need to apply for a permit.

On that note, Geramm also welcomes Ahmad Zahid's announcement of the #media council hashtag to solicit proposals and suggestions from media practitioners for the review of the PPPA 1984.

Wonder who was responsible for the PPPA 1984, and who used it most?

Lim Guan Eng - victim of PPPA 1984

By Amnesty International:


Lim Guan Eng raised the anomalies of the case [of statutory rape], after the girl's grandmother (the girl's guardian), one of his constituents, brought the case to him and sought his help.

On 28 February 1995, Lim Guan Eng was charged under the Sedition Act for prompting 'disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia'. On 17 March 1995, an additional charge was brought under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for 'maliciously printing' a pamphlet containing 'false information', specifically that he had used the term 'imprisoned victim' to describe the rape victim.

At his first trial in 1997, Lim Guan Eng was convicted on both counts and fined RM 15,000 (US $6,000). The State appealed to the Court of Appeal against the 'leniency' of the sentence. At a subsequent hearing before the Court of Appeal (1 April 1998), the sentence was increased to 3 years imprisonment. A consequence of the sentence is that Lim Guan Eng will be automatically barred as a member of parliament and is likely to be declared bankrupt.

{There are injustices in the law which are mind-boggling ... The lesson is clear - choose your rapist carefully ... As a woman, especially a Muslim woman, I am angry, disgusted and ashamed ... As a mother, I now have real fears for my daughter. What protection can we hope for our daughters if, in the interests of politics, a minor can so easily be sacrificed? -- Marina Mahathir}

The persecution of Lim Guan Eng is seen as not just an attempt by the government to silence a prominent critic, but also to serve as a warning to others. His constituents have been denied representation in parliament.

Freedom of expression and respect for democratic institutions and human rights does not exist in Malaysia. The Prime Minister justifies his iron rule as necessary to keep Malaysia on the path of economic success. The so called Malaysian economic miracle now lies in ruins.

In a histrionic outburst, Mahathir bin Mohamad, desperate to blame others for his own shortcomings and failings, blamed foreign speculators and agents of foreign powers. In addition to the Draconian and repressive Sedition Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act, Malaysia also uses the Internal Security Act (which grants the power for indefinite detention without charge or trial) to silence critics.

And now a word from CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) (extracts only):

March 22, 2000 12:04 PM ET

At the heart of Malaysia's authoritarian reputation is its Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, which requires all publications to obtain licenses that can be revoked at will by the Minister for Home Affairs. The minister's decisions are final, and there is no judicial review.

A holdover from British rule, when a communist insurgency threatened what was then called Malaya and led to "emergency" decrees, the restrictions are now used by the dominant United Malay National Organization(UMNO) of Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to suppress dissenting views. For Malaysian readers of the mainstream press, the result is a daily diet of self-censored news. UMNO and its allies in the ruling Barisan National coalition directly own or control all major newspapers, radio and television stations, making it virtually impossible for alternative voices to reach the public.

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, 581 journalists presented an unprecedented petition to Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling for an end to publishing restrictions. "I shall read it. I will let you know," Abdullah told the group. It was the last they heard from him on the matter.

Also on World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced it was putting Prime Minister Mahathir on its list of the 10 Worst Enemies of the Press in 1999. CPJ cited Mahathir's stranglehold on the mainstream media, as well as the Mahathir government's efforts to stifle the handful of opposition organs that are allowed to publish.

Following the November 29 general election, in which the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) scored the only significant gains against the ruling coalition, the government banned newsstand sales of Harakah, the PAS party newspaper. It then threatened to close the paper permanently if it failed to comply with the order. (Under the terms of its license, Harakah can be sold only to PAS party members.) After the September 1998 arrest and prosecution of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, which Harakah covered in detail, the biweekly's circulation quadrupled, to over 350,000.

Four other small, opposition-oriented publications were similarly threatened by the government following the November elections, and Aliran, a critical magazine published by a non-governmental organization, has had difficulty finding a printer.

The Malaysian judiciary also acted against the press in 1999, periodically restricting coverage of the trials of Anwar Ibrahim. In April, Anwar was convicted of corruption and sentenced to six years in jail. Following that case, his trial on sodomy charges began; it is expected to conclude sometime in 2000.

In September, Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert's two-year battle to avoid jail ended when the Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent was sentenced to six weeks in prison (he served four weeks) for a story he wrote that was critical of the Malaysian judicial process. Malaysia thus became the first Commonwealth country in 50 years to jail a reporter for contempt, sparking international condemnation.

"Putting a journalist in jail for doing his job undermines the press freedoms that play such a critical role in building a democratic society," U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a statement issued at a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Auckland shortly after Hiebert was jailed.

Mahathir curtly dismissed U.S. concerns over the incident. "If he [Clinton] were to send troops here to release Hiebert, then I will call that interference. He hasn't done that. I think he is entitled to his opinion and I to mine," Mahathir told the Malaysian daily, The Sun.

major backflip - what a hypocrite 

In 1999 the Malaysian Chinese Organisation Election Appeals Committee (Suqui) presented to Mahathir 17 appeals ahead of the 1999 general election.

Suqui's 17-points demand were:

1 Encourage racial solidarity.
2 Increase democracy.
3 Defend human rights and uphold justice.
4 Eradicate corrupt practices.
5 Implement a fair economic policy.
6 Re-evaluate the privatisation policy.
7 Implement an education policy that is more progressive and liberal.
8 Encourage the development of all cultures.
9 Protect the environment.
10 Modernise and develop new villages.
11 Formulate a “House for Everyone” Policy.
12 Protect women’s rights.
13 Develop a fair media.
14 Restore the confidence of the people towards the police.
15 Improve welfare.
16 Respect workers’ rights.
17 Help the aborigines become self-reliant.

Pre the elections the cabinet ENDORSED in principle the 17-points appeal.

But after the elections in mid 2000 Mahathir branded Suqui as a communist and extremist outfit over the appeals and rejected all their appeals.

Suqui members were then treated like communists, traitors, drawn in comparison with Al’Ma’unah (armed cult group). Suqui was, alas, not defended by MCA and Gerakan and the opposition.

The following year UMNO Youth threatened to raze the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) over the Suqui matter. Umno Youth's then vice-chief Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir threatened to torch the building if an apology was not tendered over the appeals, endorsed by 2,000 Chinese organisations.

You wanna vote for such a person who break his promise after elections?