Legislative Controls & The Rise of the Internet

Brown 2005: Legislative controls over the media structure:

1. Printing Presses and Publication Act
a. The Operation Lalang Crackdown in 1997 saw the capture of over a hundred political and social activists.
b. The Printing Presses and Publication Act suspended and closed down four national newspapers.
c. Generally used as a censorship regime for both print and broadcast media
2. Official Secrets Act, Sedition Act and Internal Security Act – “relics of colonial administration”
a. Official Secrets Act “was tightened in 1986 to cover all government documents unless specifically declassified, and made illegal the circulation or publication for such documents
b. Sedition Act “contains a very vague definition”
c. Internal Security Act defeats the purpose of human rights and “allows for effectively limitless detention without trial”

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Brown (2005) also saw the rise of the Internet had demonstrated more challenging. As noted before, Mahathir originally accepted it as a part of an information technology (ICT) revolution that “would provide the driving force for economic growth, and to see Malaysia take its place amongst the industrialized nations, a fundamental goal of Mahathir’s developmentalist Vision 2020”.

The regime was undoubtedly concerned over the potential of the Internet as a subversve medium, but was also keen to gain the economic advantages of an open-door policy to ICT, particularly seeking competitive advantage over Singapore, which had already implemented stringent Internet controls.

The Rise of the Internet as a Political Medium

The reformasi movement that erupted in 1998 onto the political arena, confirmed the regime’s worst fears regarding the Internet:

In the aftermath of Anwar's sacking, the Internet as a political medium and as the medium of reformasi became virtually synonymous. During the inchoate period of secret protests in October to December 1998, the Internet formed a key medium for communication between Anwar's supports and the broader public.

After the movement was subsided, Malaysiakini emerged and was created in 1999 as "Malaysia's first commercial Internet newspaper" (Brown 2005).

Reference

Brown, G. (2005). The rough and rosy road: Sites of contestation in Malaysia's shackled media industry. Pacific Affairs, 78(1): 39-56