WHAT DOES THE US GOVERNMENT THINK OF MALAYSIAS DEMOCRACY IN TERMS OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION & WORSHIP. ITS HIGH TIME FOR THE UGLY TRUTH TO BE EXPOSED BY THE AUTHORITARIAN REGIME!!!! QUOTE: “They noted that when (Datuk) Ibrahim Ali (Perkasa chief) a politician with ties to the ruling coalition, called on Muslims to burn Malay-language copies of the Bible in January, no action was taken to charge him with sedition,” it said. It also said parties in the ruling coalition owned or controlled a majority of shares in two of the three major English-language and most Malay daily newspapers while businesspersons well connected to the government and ruling parties owned the third major English-language newspaper and all four major Chinese language newspapers. Also stated was that most radio and television networks in the country were also owned by ruling coalition political parties or businesses linked to them. “The government exerted control over news content, both in print and broadcast media, punished publishers of “malicious news” and banned, restricted, and limited circulation of publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. In December the Home Ministry temporarily suspended the printing permit of The Heat, a recently established weekly news magazine,” it said. The suspension of The Heat was lifted in January. The report stated that journalists were subject to harassment and intimidation due to their reporting. “In July the Sarawak State immigration department detained and subsequently deported Clare Rewcastle Brown, a British citizen who ran a website and radio station critical of the state government of Sarawak,” it said. The report said the government practised censorship of the media, primarily of the print and broadcast media. “This was done directly and indirectly by controlling news content; making publication of “malicious news” a punishable offense and empowering the home affairs minister to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security; prosecuting bloggers and journalists for their writings; taking little or no action against those who abused journalists; and limiting circulation of some organisations’ publications to their members,” it stated. The reports stated that such policies, together with anti-defamation laws, inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in extensive self-censorship. UNQUOTE theantdaily/news/2014/03/19/us-country-report-paints-gloomy-picture-press-freedom-malaysia
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:11:40 +0000
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