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Malaysia to consider reviewing law on print media

Straits Times - August 18, 2011

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Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that the government will consider reviewing a tough publications law that places limits on print media, in the latest move to placate calls for reform.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin, responding to a question from a reporter about Prime Minister Najib Razak's comments on easing censorship laws, said however that such a review of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) would not be carried out at the expense of racial and religious harmony.

"Yes, but let it be non-political and not at the expense of issues of race and religion," he was quoted as saying by the Malaysian Insider news website, when asked about the review. He cautioned that "in a multiracial and multi-religious society, filtering must be done as absolute freedom can cause chaos".

The PPPA has been criticized by civil society as a restrictive law to discourage dissent. The Act makes it compulsory for the print media to annually obtain printing permits from the Home Ministry.

Najib on Monday said he would review the hot-button issues of electoral reforms and censorship laws.

His promise of reform in the two areas is seen as the biggest step so far to appease the calls for reform after last month's mammoth Bersih rally calling for electoral reforms.

He said that the blacking out of several lines of a report in The Economist magazine about the rally by government censors had elicited more negative international attention than the story itself.

Najib said current censorship laws were no longer effective in the Internet age and could cause more damage.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin also reportedly said the government would set up a mechanism to "monitor" the media and that this mechanism would eventually replace censorship laws. He did not elaborate further.

In response, Tony Pua, the opposition Democratic Action Party's publicity chief, called Tan Sri Muhyiddin's proposal an "arbitrary monitoring system".

Some analysts had also expressed skepticism at the government's sincerity in wanting to review censorship laws when major print and broadcast outlets are controlled by political parties of the ruling Barisan Nasional.