The intimidation and harassment of bloggers has been taken one step further through police interrogations of the family members of bloggers, in this case the interrogation of Marina Lee, the wife of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin. As a further sign of the crackdown on freedom of speech in Malaysia, the Ministry of Internal Security, Ministry of Education, Ministry Culture, Arts and Heritage and the Youth wing of the ruling party UMNO have all threatened a Malaysian student in Taiwan, who produced a video of his rap version of the national anthem. The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is concerned that these incidents are part of a clampdown on expression critical of the ruling coalition, particularly UMNO, in the run-up to the next general election.
On August 8, the wife of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin was questioned by police about her husband's website Malaysia Today, which UMNO alleges has insulted the Supreme Ruler, or Agong. Marina who has no connection with the blog other than through her husband, said that during the 40-minute interrogation, police were looking at jointly charging her and her husband.
ASP Alzafny Ahmad, one of the officers interrogating Marina, declined to comment to enquiries by CIJ. Raja Petra himself was subjected to police questioning for eight hours on 25 July following a police report lodged against him by UMNO.
On August 7-8, Malay tabloid Harian Metro carried full-page reports attacking the student who produced a music video of the national anthem and uploaded it onto YouTube. The reports quoted the Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, who said his ministry will recommend that the Attorney General take action against a Malaysian student for "disparaging" the national anthem. It also quoted threats of action by the Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Education. The UMNO Youth website also carried article quoting its Education Bureau Chief Ahmad Ikhmal Ismail attacking the student and the music video.
The video is a rap version of the national anthem Negaraku in which the singer known only as "Namewee", includes lyrics critical of the ruling coalition, its policies and police corruption. It appeared in YouTube in mid July and is reported to have been watched 400,000 times. However, on August 8 Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Najib Abdul Aziz said in the national news agency, BERNAMA that the police cannot persecute the video producer as the video was produced abroad.
CIJ is concerned that the government's action displays a disregard of democratic practices and fundamental liberties, including the freedom to dissent. By further aggravating dissatisfaction among Malaysians, the government is risking alienating the support it seeks for the general election.
We urge the government to take note of the risk and immediately stop action against citizens who voice dissenting views.
The Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia (CIJ) is a media organization that aims to improve current Malaysian journalism practice and independence through advocacy, research and analysis, training and practical work. Started in 2001, CIJ has initiated various projects in developing grassroots communications skills through training, infrastructural support and direct action.
Gayathry Venkiteswaran
Executive Director
Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia (CIJ)
My Comments:
As someone who has seen the offending video by Negarakuku, I don't think it has much artistic merit ~ but then, I'm not much of a music critic. Neither do I understand its lyrics as its in Chinese.
But I do like the juxtaposition of the photos of a police road block and a cup of coffee and its "duit kopi" allusion to rampant police and, by extension, government corruption.
The powers-that-be have to make a show of going through the motions whenever a national icon is "disparaged." I once had a long chat with artist Datuk Ibrahim Hussein about his detention over a painting he made about the May 13 incident featuring a blacked out Malaysian flag that was the subject of the government's ire.
It took the personal intervention of Tun Razak, after hearing Ib's explanation of artistic symbolism, to set him free.
I'm not particularly disgusted by the butchery of the Negaraku by Negarakuku ~ the government did a marvelous job of that all by themselves with no help from us mere citizens when they changed its tempo to a march some years back.
Negarakuku should milk this incident for all it worth ~ your 15 minutes of notoriety will do no harm ~ and we should get as much mileage out of this furore to open the eyes of Malaysians to what is wrong with this 50-year-old country of ours and its political "personages" ~ I hesitate to use the word "leaders."
What puzzles me its the slowness of the Government reaction ~ it took them three whole weeks to get to the bottom of this. One wonders how swiftly they would act if there really was a serious threat to our national security...
Copyright 2003-2007 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
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